From A to Z
by Rachel500
Summary: Time travel. They agreed it was the last resort. They agreed it was plan Z.
1. Back to the beginning

Disclaimer: The Avengers is owned by Marvel Entertainment and I am just borrowing the characters.

 **Author's Note:** This was previously just posted to AO3 and I hadn't realised I didn't also have it over here.

Please note this has non-linear story-telling.

It was written before Black Panther and Infinity War were aired so assumed how that film would go and therefore isn't entirely canon compliant.

 **Pairings:** Pepper/Tony, Vision/Wanda, Scott/Hope, Thor/Jane, mention of other canon pairings

 **Warnings:** Canon level violence, some existing canon deaths will still take place. Civil War Team Iron Man - as this is told from Tony's POV. Time travel.

 _From Plan A to Plan Z_

"Take me back to the beginning."

The world is dying around him.

Tony's hand is clasped tightly around the time stone which is burning through the armour…

And there is so much pain.

Too much pain.

He closes his eyes and screams…

…he opens his eyes to a wide blue sky,

gasping for breath,

hand clawing at –

His shirt.

 _Shirt._

And normal body armour already pierced through with shrapnel.

Blood against his fingertips.

He gives a soundless hysterical laugh.

He's back at the beginning.

 _Plan A_

Tony picked up the letter from Steve – no; Rogers. He should call him Rogers.

He read it again.

He knew the letter was well-meant, (Rogers was always well-meant), but it was not well-executed between the underlying message of 'I still think I'm right about the Accords and you're wrong,' and the almost-maybe-probably-genuine regret of not telling Tony the truth about his parents' death, (and Tony was cynical enough to believe _that_ had more to do with Tony going after Barnes than the hurt caused to Tony by Steve's betrayal). His fingers tightened and crumpled the paper. His gaze landed on the accompanying cell phone and he grimaced.

Steve- _Rogers_ was an idiot, Tony thought tiredly, or he was performing one hell of a trust fall in hoping Tony wouldn't actually use the phone to track where Steve and his Bucky had disappeared to in the wake of Siberia (as though he didn't already know since T'Challa had checked on him before flying away). Faith in individuals, his ass.

"Boss, General Ross has been holding for five minutes." FRIDAY informed him cheerily.

Tony sighed and glanced at the flashing light on the office phone. He smoothed the letter out, folded it and crammed it back into the envelope. He glared at the ancient black cell phone.

He hated the idea that there would be a time when he would need to call Rogers, but the fact was it was entirely possible. The threat he'd seen on the other side of the portal hadn't gone away. Thor had gone exploring for what was going on with the – what had he called them? – the infinity gems? Sure, there'd been an occasional return of the Asgardian to Earth to update them on his lack of progress (and possibly that was because his visits were booty calls with Jane before they split, if Tony was any judge), but Thor was certain something was going on with the infinity stones.

Yeah.

It was all too entirely possible the world would need Rogers and the others who'd followed him (and who the super-soldier was presumably breaking out of the RAFT right that moment). And Tony was absolutely certain that in that nebulous future apocalypse when Tony called him, Rogers would be smiling his smugly smug smile with all his perfect teeth because he'd take it as justification that he was right and Tony was wrong.

Only Tony didn't believe he was all that wrong for believing the Avengers needed to be accountable (Rhodey had been on his side; Vision had been on his side), not when over a hundred countries demanded it. Tony fully believed they needed to answer for their decisions and actions so people could see that they were owning their mistakes and would resolve to do better – and it wasn't just his own guilt prompting him to think that although he conceded it was part of it.

Of course, the Accords weren't perfect and Rogers was right; they were open to abuse as unfortunately Ross had clearly demonstrated. If the General's position as Secretary of State had been the reason he'd been the one to present the Accords to the US based Avengers, he'd somehow just stepped in as the de facto liaison between the UN, the Joint Counter-Terrorism Unit and the Avengers in the confusion following the bombing. _That_ had been a mistake.

Tony had thoroughly checked since returning from Siberia and there was nothing in the Accords which gave Ross specifically any power or jurisdiction over any superhero who had signed up to the Accords. Ross had just stepped into a power vacuum and people had let him. He'd made a power play for the Avengers just like the Senate had made a power play for the Iron Man suit under the guise of oversight. And maybe Tony should have checked on all of that prior to the meet-up at the airport, but if wishes were horses…

Which didn't mean that Rogers and his merry band of fugitives were off the hook. If Ross had proven Rogers's point about agendas not their own, Rogers had proven Ross's point about acting without legality and due care. Rogers and the others were criminally responsible for the damage they had wrought in the name of protecting Barnes and trying to stop Zemo. Their imprisonment in the RAFT though – that was Ross overstepping his position again (and Rogers was right that some locks shouldn't be replaced).

The upshot was that between Ross proving Rogers's point that the Accords could be abused, and Steve proving Ross's point that the Avengers could cause a lot of damage if left to run unchecked, Tony was caught in the middle. But maybe it was time for Tony to build a metaphorical suit of armour and escape…

Another glance at the phone confirmed Ross was still holding. Tony was impressed; he'd figured Ross would have hung up already. He flicked the button on the phone. "Mister Secretary. You still there?"

"This isn't the time for your foolishness, Stark! Get your butt here now! The fugitives have only…"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline." Tony said cheerfully. "Under the Accords, section six, sub-section eight, we're all required to have a review hearing…"

The dial tone sounded loudly in the small office.

"…in front of the currently non-existent UN panel before we can resume activity as Avengers."

Tony smirked and flicked the button to hang up his end. His eyes caught on Rogers's phone and letter. There might be a time when the world would need Captain America and he'd have to make that call, but not right that minute. Right that minute, it was time for Tony to do what Tony did best…

Be Tony Stark.

 _Plan Z_

Tony thinks waking up for a second time with his body mutilated is only slightly less horrifying than the first time.

He hurts everywhere and his mind whirls.

He can't believe he's travelled back in time. Stephen Strange's last resort made a reality. He remembers asking Strange why they couldn't just use the time stone to fix things during one of their early conversations and there had been a reply which had something to do with breaking the universe's natural laws? Tony shakes his head, a fragment of their conversation drifting back to him…

 _"OK. I get it. Bad idea." Tony smirked at Strange. "So. Plan B?"_

 _Strange grinned but there was a serious glint in his eyes. "How about we make it plan Z?"_

 _"Last resort, huh?" Tony shrugged. "Yeah, why not? Let's go with that."_

He also remembers the rest of the discussion which had revolved around time travel theory, multiverses, dimensions, quantum mechanics and magic. Strange was – is? – brilliant and Tony had enjoyed the debate. He has to remember key events, Tony thinks foggily through the pain and the last of the haze of whatever they'd used to finally knock him out. He has to remember key events and timings and…he passes out again.

Yinsen is waiting for him when he wakes up. "We met once at a conference. You probably don't remember me…"

"Yinsen. Bern." Tony replies as he struggles upright. "I was an ass."

Surprise flits through Yinsen's eyes.

Tony calculates he can't afford to change a lot of the timeline if he's to make their war with Thanos either unlikely to happen or a hell of a lot more successful than their last attempt to defeat him. Too many changes will irrevocably alter future events to the point where Tony won't have the advantage of foreknowledge.

So, he refuses to build Ten Ring the weapons they want again.

He gets waterboarded again.

He reminds himself with every tortured breath of air that he'll live through this; that he'll make it home.

He stands in front of the cache of his weapons, lies and agrees to build the Jericho, his pain-wracked body almost overwhelmed with the déjà vu.

The first priority is replacing the car battery with the miniaturised arc reactor. It takes less time to pull together since Tony isn't just theorising but working with practical knowledge. But there's a limit to how much he can do building it in a cave – he definitely can't get around the palladium but he comforts himself that its only until he gets home and can recreate the vibranium core. The arc reactor is different though; improved.

His relationship with Yinsen is also different. It seems warmer somehow. Yinsen is more than just the pushy voice in his ear reminding Tony of the blood on his hands and how responsible Tony is for it all. They talk more, although cautiously, too aware of the cameras watching them.

When they talk of family Tony still tells Yinsen he has none – he's not going to give Ten Rings any leverage (but he thinks about Pepper, Rhodey and Happy, about JARVIS and his bots – the small family he has built). He thinks Yinsen gets it though. Yinsen talks of his wife and his daughter but never reveals they are gone and Tony cannot bring himself to press the other man into telling him the truth that they're dead.

Tony thinks he can save Yinsen this time.

He desperately wants to save him because Yinsen deserves to be saved. Two suits are undoable - he knows from the first time that constructing even one suit had taken almost too much time. They do have to pretend to be making a Jericho after all. But he constructs a shield first; makes sure the suit can take the weight of two men. He makes it clear to Yinsen that he's expecting both of them to get out of their captivity alive.

It doesn't work.

The escape almost goes beat for beat the same; their captors become suspicious just a smidgeon too soon as the suit powers up; Yinsen runs ahead to buy Tony time – and he doesn't take the shield, leaves it behind – and…

"Go home to your family, Stark." Yinsen smiles up at him; his body is riddled with bullets, blood pooling into the ground below him. "I am going home to mine."

Tony hears the echo of Yinsen's voice in his memory; "Don't waste your life…"

He lays waste to the Ten Rings and the weapons, his weapons, remembered pain mixing with a newer grief because he knows Yinsen even better now.

The suit is better designed. It steers better than before as he rockets into the sky and brings himself down. It's a rough landing and Tony's reminded again of how lucky he has been – is – that he doesn't end up with a broken back like Rhodey did – will – won't, won't, _won't_.

He gathers as much of the suit as he can (he won't make it easy for Obie this time), and drags it behind him.

Step by step across the sand.

Step.

By.

Step.

The helicopter finds him and Rhodey runs – runs! – to him and Tony is on his knees and hugging Rhodey and crying and – he's going to do better this time.

He swears it.

He has family to protect.


	2. Press conferences

_Plan A_

Really too many of his 'beginnings' involved a press conference.

Or something exploding.

Tony really needed to do something about that.

He glanced down at his notecards and set them down on the table in front of him. He ignored Rhodey's long-suffering sigh in the wheelchair beside him on Tony's left and the way Pepper twitched on his right, her brand new Manolo Blahnik intentionally knocking against his shiny brogue under the table, while she smiled out at the seated reporters. Vision sat on Rhodey's other side, a silent sentinel in his perfectly formed three-piece suit. Tony wished suddenly for the bots; that he could have FRIDAY in his ear and his armour around him.

But it was time for another type of suit and the Armani he wore fairly screamed rich, successful and put together even if the body underneath was bruised and battered. Make-up covered most of the marks on his face; a tight watch – one of his watch-gauntlet combinations – provided the wrist support for his healing arm. He looked like Tony Stark; genius billionaire. And if he was going to steer the Avengers and his family out of the mess of the Accords and its aftermath he was going to need to be the best version of Tony Stark, genius billionaire, he was ever going to be.

Step one of the awesome plan A he and his family had constructed, Tony reminded himself, was to address the appalling state of the Avengers' public image. Which was why they had gathered the waiting vultures in front of him at the Tower for a press conference.

He cleared his throat.

"Thank you for coming. I know many of you have been waiting some time for us to provide a statement following recent events." He paused and looked around the expectant journalists. "We're going to begin with the events in Lagos which were the catalyst for accelerating the ratification of the Sokovia Accords by the UN Assembly."

They all gaze back expectantly and Tony wonders again why Rogers hadn't held his own press conference right after the mission. The only statement issued by the Avengers had acknowledged the regret at the loss of life while providing the excuse of dealing with a terrorist threat. In hindsight, Tony wondered if Rogers had written it himself since it almost mirrored the tone of his own letter from the man.

Tony tapped his phone and around the room there was a cacophony of beeps and whistles notifying their owners of email.

"You're all now in receipt of all non-classified details which should clear up the continuing misinformation about Lagos. The detailed report states how Wanda Maximoff was attempting to save lives on the ground in the marketplace but was unable to direct the suicide bomber into a completely safe space before the detonation. Although none of us here can speak for her, I personally witnessed Miss Maximoff's horror and how deeply responsible she felt about the loss of life."

He gestured at a reporter whose hand had shot up into the air.

"Why were these details not provided immediately in the aftermath?" The CNN reporter was a familiar face and Tony knew her to be tough but fair.

Vision sat forward, glancing toward Tony for permission which Tony gave with a brief nod. "Captain Rogers made the decision not to release the information to protect Miss Maximoff from further public focus."

"Vision," another journalist jumped in quickly, "why were you and Colonel Rhodes excluded from the Lagos mission?"

It was Rhodey who answered after a brief glance at Vision. "It's standard practice for two members of the team to remain State-side when the others are overseas either to provide operational support or to address any emergency situations which may arise elsewhere."

"Moving on," Tony said briskly, "let's talk Accords." His brown gaze swept through the room. "The Sokovia Accords place the Avengers Initiative under the direction and oversight of a UN panel. We accept that the Avengers must be held accountable. We want to make it clear to everyone who has supported the Accords, or who raised concerns that we were acting unchecked and without care for boundaries or laws, that we listened, are listening."

He waited for a long moment.

"As you are aware not all Avengers agree with the Accords as they currently stand. They raise valid concerns as to the nature of missions to be undertaken, the speed and efficiency of decision-making and the consequences for violation of orders. The Accords are also ambiguous regarding the actions of superheroes who are not part of the Avengers." Tony continued solemnly.

There was a stir of movement but nobody spoke.

"These are not trivial concerns. I'm sure no-one wants a superhero team to be used to further a malicious or illegal agenda. I'm sure in that case you'd agree that it would be appropriate for an Avenger to disagree with the mission but then what? The details are vague on potential consequences." Tony gestured to indicate the room. "I'm also very certain that if another hostile alien attack happened here right now, everyone would expect us to act to save them regardless that we would be in violation of the Accords if we did so."

Tony was pleased at the small nods he could see and he waved at a young reporter lurking on the edges who raised their hand.

"Why were these concerns not addressed prior to the ratification of the Accords?" The guy asked hesitantly pushing his glasses up his nose even as his other hand held up his phone to record the answer.

"The Avengers were not involved in the drafting of the Accords. After Sokovia, UN inspectors investigated what happened and they recommended that formal oversight of the Avengers be implemented. We did occasionally hear rumblings of an oversight document but as nobody approached us, we had no real substantive information upon which to act." Tony said. "Our own inquiries to the UN and the US government were met with statements that we would be involved in due time."

"When did you become aware of the actual document and its detail?" Christine Everheart asked bluntly, not waiting for him to indicate she should speak.

Rhodey leaned forward. "Secretary Ross approached Tony after Lagos and he accompanied him on a meeting with the whole team after everyone returned Stateside. We were given three days to read and agree to the document before it was ratified at Vienna. We were assured by both Secretary Ross and our own legal team who reviewed the document, that there was a procedure which would allow future amendments." He looked at the reporters as they absorbed the timeline. "My own signing was and is a gesture of good faith; of placing my duty and responsibility to protect people ahead of my concerns. I believe in accountability and that when people say they want to us to change the way we do things, we listen."

Tony could see Rhodey's words resonating with the crowd.

"Now that doesn't mean," Rhodey continued, "that we can ignore the fact that amendment is required. We'll be very happy to work through the areas of concern with the UN Accords panel."

"Which brings me to an interesting point of order." Tony jumped in, gesturing expansively. "Right now, the UN panel is not in operation. All currently signed-up Avengers are awaiting debrief for recent events which were coordinated with the Joint Counter-Terrorism Unit and ordered by our Secretary of State in the absence of the panel."

"We spoke with the UN Secretary General this morning, and agreed that the UN panel will be constituted this week to enable the Avengers to operate fully under the Accords and for the review hearings to take place." Rhodey added. "We also agreed that should an exceptional emergency situation occur before that time, the Avengers have the internal authority to act or not, and any decisions and actions will be reviewed post emergency."

Pepper cleared her throat to gain the attention of the press. "Stark Industries also took part in the call this morning as there are legal and financial considerations which are not addressed specifically by the Accords but which will need to be reviewed in light of the operational shift to UN governance."

"Could you elaborate for us, Miss Potts?" called a reporter from the back of the room.

"Of course, Jack." Pepper responded, smiling. "The Avengers Initiative effectively has operated as an international non-profit organisation in the wake of SHIELD's operational integrity being compromised. Its operating budget is primarily funded by the sale of merchandising or private donations…"

Tony's own personal donation being the primary funding, Tony thought absently.

"…this will need review by the UN panel, who under the Accords will set a budget, but it's not clear whether the UN will actually take over funding the Initiative. SI has also provided buildings, technical, business and scientific expertise at either cost or no charge to support the Initiative. We have legal contracts between SI and the Initiative which will need to be reviewed. I'm sure the same applies to other suppliers." Pepper smiled. "The Secretary General has agreed there will be a sixty-day transition window in which all these legal and financial concerns are handled to ensure a fair outcome for all."

"So," Tony asserted to start wrapping up the press conference, "that's all we have for you folks. The Avengers will continue to protect our world. We're working things out with the UN and we're listening."

"What about Captain America?" shouted someone from the back.

"Yeah, and the witch?" Another chimed in.

"Are the Avengers being sent to apprehend them following their escape from custody?"

Others began to shout additional questions and Tony held up a hand.

"OK, so we cannot comment – _cannot_ comment about events which are currently subject to legal investigation." Tony smiled to soften the refusal. "At least that's what Miss Potts tells me."

There was a smattering of laughter and Pepper helped by rolling her eyes at him.

"I will say this," Tony said, sobering a touch, "firstly, it has been agreed with the Secretary General that the Avengers will not pursue certain individuals such as Captain America due to the need to establish a proper operational framework. So, we're emergencies only right now. Unless Cap decides to invade somewhere with an army of sentient toasters – or no, wait, that's more likely to be me…"

There was another round of chuckles.

Tony gestured toward the reporters as he drew their attention again. "I know you all know that the others, well, they did what they did because they believed they were trying to do the right thing in their eyes. But that doesn't alter the fact that mistakes were made and people were hurt; laws were broken."

He made eye contact with a couple of reporters as he paused.

"Steve Rogers is going to have to answer for his actions, just as I'm going to answer for mine. _All_ of us should answer for what went down. That's what accountability means."

Tony waited a moment. Just as the reporters started to fire questions again, he rose to his feet buttoning his jacket and straightening his cuffs, and trying hard not to help Rhodey who wheeled his chair away from the table and out of the room with hard-won skill.

Rhodey stopped as they closed the door on the room and took a breath. He tapped Tony's hand to catch his attention and Tony turned to him with a questioning arch of one eyebrow in mute query.

"Proud of you, man."

Pepper leaned in just as Tony was about to reply, snagging his tie she pulled him close and kissed him.

Tony stared at her as she stepped back and wiped the lipstick away from his mouth with a brush of her thumb. Her eyes were smiling at him. "Does this mean…" He asked hopefully.

"I'm proud of you too." Pepper held on to his tie and Tony started smiling back at her as they gazed at each other.

He was almost one hundred per cent certain that kissing meant the break was over. Well, eighty per cent. Maybe sixty…

She kissed him again.

OK, he was a hundred per cent certain.

"I too am proud." Vision stated, causing them to break apart. "But I believe I will refrain from kissing you."

They all snickered. Pepper looped her arm around his as they started to make their way to the elevator where Happy was waiting.

"Oh hey boss." Happy held up his phone. "You know the kid has texted me five times already today."

"That's great." Tony said not really listening as he continued looking at Pepper who was beaming back at him. It was fine. Happy liked the Spiderkid.

"I could tell you the world was ending right now and you wouldn't hear a thing, would you?" Rhodey said.

"Hmmm?" Tony said as his hand slipped down to tangle his fingers with Pepper's.

Step one complete, he thought as they all entered the elevator. Plan A was a go.

 _Plan Z_

The press are almost vibrating with excitement despite their outward appearance of sympathetic compassion for the newly returned Tony Stark to civilisation.

Tony remembers how it went the last time. He's more prepared this time – eschewing cheeseburgers because he remembers throwing them all back up – and instead going straight to the press conference he insists on doing.

And he needs to do this press conference, needs to regain control of SI very, very publicly. Step one (or should this be two because step one was surviving to make it to this press conference), so OK, step two in this insane trip through time is to deal with Obie and make sure Tony's own image starts to be more responsible and stable. Personality change in the face of a trauma is his best excuse ever.

He means to say what he meant to say in the last timeline before it had gotten lost between the impromptu sit-in (which he doesn't do now), his rambling self-epiphany about accountability (he's determined not to ramble), and Obie all but shoving him out of the room after the announcement about closing down weapons production, (and he knows he won't make the same announcement this time, because he's thought long and hard about it and the world needs the best weapons he can make in the hands of every soldier if they're going to survive the oncoming storms).

He looks around the room and catches sight of Phil Coulson by Pepper. He inwardly flinches and swallows hard against the memory of blood-stained cards strewn on a conference table.

"Thank you for coming." Tony begins. "Firstly, I can confirm the statement released by Stark Industries yesterday that I was rescued by US forces following three months of captivity. I want to thank the President and the Joint Chiefs for their efforts to search for me and for my rescue. I also want to thank everyone here at Stark Industries for keeping the home fires burning."

He can't bring himself to thank Obie specifically knowing he's behind the attempt on his life but as Obie is beaming beside him, Tony figures he's said enough to placate the older man's ego.

"My father," Tony says and instantly he has the room's attention. "My father," he repeats, "didn't talk to me much about his legacy. But I remember he told me once that Starks build for heroes. We gave Captain America his shield," and he almost sees in the corner of his eye how Coulson looks up at the mention of his hero, "and Sergeant Barnes his rifle. We outfit the soldiers who fight for our freedom, for the innocent, but always, always on the side of right."

There is total silence in the room. A pin could drop and sound like a klaxon.

Tony clears his throat. "Airman James Forest. Airman Claudia Benito. Senior Airman Charles Baker. Airman Casper Winney. Staff Sergeant Giles Bingley. Airman Dominic Torres. These servicemen lost their lives in the initial ambush; they died protecting my life. Five more brave men and women were injured." He'd made Rhodey tell him the names of the deceased on the flight home. "Doctor Ho Yinsen was a fellow captive. He saved my life and gave his own so my escape was possible. They are all heroes; every one of them."

He doesn't need to see Pepper to know her hand is over her mouth, her eyes bright with tears. He doesn't need to see how Rhodey stands just behind him, stoic and concerned.

"And I saw them all killed with Stark weapons, my weapons." Tony states roughly. "Weapons I had built to protect them."

For the first time there's a surprised murmur that runs around the room. Obie tenses beside him.

His life is worth something, Tony tells himself firmly, and even then…if he has to be the Merchant of Death to defeat Thanos, he'll bear it. But he won't ignore his responsibility either.

"There has to be accountability." Tony said loudly. "And for that reason," he continues, "Stark Industries and I will be cooperating fully with the government investigation into how our weapons ended up in the hands of terrorists, to ensure all those responsible face the consequences. We will track down every weapon distributed and obtained illegally; we will destroy those in the hands of our enemies."

Tony pauses, his eyes dark with determination.

"If I can't protect our heroes," he finishes, "I damn well will avenge them."

He steps away from the lectern and the room suddenly breaks out with a few claps, which become a few more and as he steps down from the stage the room is applauding and the reporters are beginning to find their voices…he ignores Obie stepping up to the lectern and makes for Pepper, which also handily takes him right to Coulson.

"Pepper, I'm just going to head up to my office…" He needs to break into Obie's ghost server and that means going to his office so he can write and run the code on-site (Pepper won't be put in danger again).

"You should rest and what do you mean head up to…you never go up to your office." She protests.

"There's a first time for everything, Miss Potts." Tony says, more affection and fondness bleeding through than he intends because it's _Pepper_. But he knows it's wrong; they're not there yet, not Tony and Pepper yet. But…

Their eyes meet for a long moment and he sees the questions gathering in hers.

"Mister Stark?" Coulson interrupts them, his badge flashing briefly, and Tony can't decide if he's happy or not about that. "Agent Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Intervention and Enforcement Division. Given your speech, I was wondering if now would be a good time for us to debrief you?"

"Sure, why not?" Tony looks back at where Obie is distracted, fielding questions and corralling the press. "We're done here."


	3. Encounters with Fury

_Plan A_

Tony managed to slide away during the lunch recess on the excuse he needed to take a phone call. Why anyone believed him wasn't something he was going to examine too closely but even Pepper hadn't given him her usual 'this is bullshit' knowing look. He made his way up to the roof. He overrode the building security on the door and walked out into fresh air with something that bordered on panic.

He took a stuttering deep breath and leaned against the wall. There had been a reason why he'd tapped out of the Avengers; why it hadn't been a joke when he'd claimed he was an active duty non-combatant. His PTSD could catch him out on good days never mind when he'd spent hours and days recounting events which were emotionally draining. But it was worth it to undermine Ross; to fix things so the Avengers could operate without the fear of being tossed into the RAFT.

Tony straightened, turned around and gave a shout of surprise at the lurking figure of Nick Fury. "Jesus! Did you have to do that?"

"You're a hard man to get alone these days." Fury said.

Tony took in Fury's outfit; the old battered leather blazer, the black slacks and turtleneck. Fury had his trademark eyepatch. He caught the glimpse of bags and shadows under the eyes, the lines of stress around his mouth. "You're a dead man." He pointed out. "I think you're the more difficult variable in this equation."

Fury huffed. "Listen, Stark…"

"NO!" Something snapped suddenly in Tony's head. "I'm seriously not in the mood. I don't care if you want to poke at my daddy issues or send me on another guilt trip with a set of blood-stained cards or berate me for trying to find a solution to the alien threat that's out there. I'm done."

Tony stormed away to the edge of the roof and took shaky breath after shaky breath.

He was surprised when Fury walked up to stand beside him. They didn't look at each other but out at the New York skyline.

"You ever consider why I told you about that nuke and not Rogers?" asked Fury.

"You figured I would actually know what it was?" Tony guessed. It hadn't really ever occurred to him to wonder.

"I figured you were the best person to handle it." Fury said. "I've never doubted when it came down to the wire that you would lie on it." He paused. "Or cut the damn thing."

Tony gave a breathy laugh, reminded of the harsh words he and Rogers had thrown at each other on the helicarrier.

"Careful, Nick," Tony said, "you almost sound sincere there."

Fury shrugged. "I've just spent the last month getting my balls roasted on a daily basis by Laura Barton over dragging her husband back into the game."

"She and the smaller agents are safe?" asked Tony quietly. He'd kicked himself a lot for giving away Clint's marriage and kids in the RAFT. He'd known Clint had them off-grid. He shouldn't have… "Wait. What?"

Fury glanced over to meet Tony's wide-eyed glare. "They're safe. Man doesn't do anything without his wife's say-so and I had a hell of a time convincing her he'd be needed when this whole Accords shit show went down."

"You knew about the Accords." Tony stated.

"I couldn't get anyone close enough to keep one hand on the wheel." Fury returned evenly.

And that…Natasha had used those same words. Both Natasha and Clint had told him to watch his back.

"Was getting both your operatives labelled as criminals an actual plan?" asked Tony tiredly.

"We called it wrong." Fury said.

Tony believed it was the most honest answer he'd ever gotten from the spy of spies.

"Romanov was meant to shadow you and keep you in check." Fury explained shortly.

"So, back to her original mission then." Tony shot back. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised she stabbed me in the back this time rather than the neck."

"She made a call in the field." Fury retorted. "Barton always thought both you and Rogers would leave him out of it, but Rogers called and told him about the potential threat of more Winter Soldiers. He knew he couldn't stay on the side-lines. But Barton argued with Rogers about leaving you out of the loop," he explained, "he argued for Rogers to tell you about the threat at the airport…he tried to stall the fight as much as he could."

"But I didn't really listen." He'd noted it but he'd been so focused on just bringing them in and getting them safe so Ross couldn't give a kill order…damn it.

"Barton said it was difficult getting Rogers to say anything at all. Rogers could have tried harder and he didn't stand down either." Fury said. "He could have done the right thing in the first place and picked up the phone to you, left Barton the hell out of it. Romanov complicated things bringing in T'Challa but by the time Barton called her it was too late to retract her offer to him and to give you a heads up. She knows she fucked up."

She had figured out they would be at the airport because Clint had told her. It was all beginning to add up in his head. "She realised T'Challa wasn't interested in anything but killing Barnes, and Rogers wasn't going to stop to explain himself properly, I wasn't going to stop trying to bring them in…" he thought out loud.

"The priority had to be ensuring those other Winter Soldiers didn't get loose." Fury concluded.

And Natasha had broken cover to make sure Rogers and Barnes went after them.

Tony shoved his hands into his pockets. What a mess.

"You seem to be cleaning it up pretty well." Fury commented.

Tony huffed because he hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"You've had Ross sanctioned for overstepping his authority, he's facing a Senate investigation on that business with the RAFT, and has had the UN officially slap him over the wrists for ignoring evidence." Fury continued.

Tony hummed. Even better, with all the negative press about Ross generated from the hearings, a couple of anonymous hints to reporters later and the twenty-four hour news media was filled with Ross's dirty laundry. Resignation was on the cards if he wasn't fired first.

"You got the draft amendments agreed in principle." Fury added.

The new UN panel had been happy to accept them since Ross had shown how the Accords could be abused. They'd also given permission for independent superheroes outside of the Avengers to provide occasional assistance in emergency situations without signing the Accords, but with the proviso that local authorities could bring charges if there were serious injuries to innocent bystanders or extensive property damage directly caused by said superheroes. His Spiderkid was covered by that new proviso thank God.

Tony breathed out.

"You and the King of Wakanda managed to get the clusterfuck at Leipzig off the board and retrospectively legitimised. And don't think I don't know you've ended up paying for the damages."

"Kitty-cat is paying for some of it." Tony said.

Between them Tony and T'Challa were facing quite the bill for repairs. In absentia, Rogers's team had been officially reprimanded for not being under the Accords with Wanda's continuing Avenger status subject to additional training. Natasha had also received a reprimand for letting Rogers and Barnes go.

Tony had also testified about Siberia…about Zemo's plan to drive a wedge between the Avengers because the Winter Soldier had killed Tony's parents; that Rogers and Barnes had escaped; that Zemo had been delivered to the task force. Ultimately the UN panel had done nothing more than acknowledge there had been a clear and present danger which had needed to be contained.

But Romania and the breakout from the task force centre were different matters.

Romania had waived charges against T'Challa partially because of his diplomatic immunity and partially because he had signed the Accords as a gesture of goodwill in the aftermath (and Tony was certain T'Challa was writing another large cheque to cover damages there). But Rogers, Barnes and Wilson were still facing charges for obstructing the taskforce, escaping and resisting arrest since they hadn't signed the Accords, and Tony…he was done fighting for them.

"Rogers isn't a politician." Fury stated bluntly. "Between that and discovering HYDRA in SHIELD…" he heaved a sigh, "we obviously underestimated how burned he felt. Wilson was with him then and…"

"And I've stopped listening." Tony said sharply. "I told you. I'm done. Tell Rogers to get his ass back here and argue his point with the UN himself if he doesn't want to be a criminal." He turned and started to walk back.

"Stark!"

Tony turned back, unable to help himself no matter how much he wanted to ignore Fury.

"You know better than anyone you're going to need them back."

Tony nodded. He was sure he would one day. "Tell me, Fury," he said too casually not to put the spy on notice, "how long have you known my parents were killed by the Winter Soldier?"

Fury stared back at him impassively.

"Yeah. That's what I thought." Tony said. He started walking again. "Good talk. Let's do this like never again."

 _Plan Z_

"Well, in summary, Tony, I think I can speak for us all when I say that we consider that the first debut of your new Iron Man armour is a success. Gulmira is successfully liberated and the Foundation you put together is on the ground working with the survivors." General Meade grins at Tony through the screen. "I say congratulations are in order."

Rhodey beams at Tony from his place by Meade's side.

"Certainly gets my vote." Senator Gibson says cheerfully on another screen.

Tony fakes the grin they're expecting to see. "One mission down…"

"We'll get there." Meade pauses, his expression sobering. "I want to thank you, Tony. I know putting the agreement and this oversight panel in place was challenging at times but I think we proved today it can work. I can promise you that we're fully committed to the goal of destroying any weapons that are out there illegally."

Tony nods. He'd spent a good portion of time investing in getting the correct oversight in place for himself. If he set the example better…maybe it would make a difference in the future. But it had been a battle.

The legal agreement he and the Department of Defence have constructed has recently instituted an oversight panel for Iron Man's missions. Tony effectively reports to the panel, bringing intelligence and requests for operational support on the ground or in the air; attending debriefs like the one for his first mission which he had insisted be Gulmira.

But he retains ownership of Iron Man and while the military can request Iron Man support on a mission, Tony can say no without consequence. He's softened the blow by telling them outright he's giving Rhodey a suit sometime in the near future so they can order his Air Force friend to take missions, but he's made it clear that the suit will continue to belong to Tony and Rhodey is the only pilot he will accept.

He's also set up the Relief Foundation earlier than previously. It will provide financial and practical assistance in rebuilding and supporting communities in the wake of his missions. He thinks he's done better this time.

No Senate hearings.

No attempts to appropriate Iron Man.

No fight on the highway between him and Obie which had cost so much and hurt so many innocent people.

"We're all committed to the same goal here." The Director of Homeland Security nods on a different screen. "We've appreciated your transparency, Mister Stark. I can promise you we'll be prosecuting those identified in the sale of those weapons to the full extent of the law."

The public cover story is that Homeland is dealing with the investigation into the legal arms dealing. The truth is that Coulson had followed Tony to the office after the press conference and he'd waited surprisingly patiently while Tony had written the code to interrogate his own company servers. Apart from the evidence on Stane himself, four of SI's executives had been implicated directly in Stane's weapons dealing, two members of the management team, and more than twenty lower level employees had been embroiled knowingly in the actual cover-up, or the production and shipment. He'd turned the evidence over to Coulson who had immediately arrested them all.

He belatedly realises Meade is talking again and tunes back in.

"…and I can honestly say I'm looking forward to when Colonel Rhodes will have his suit." Meade says. "It's an incredible invention, Stark."

Rhodey looks giddy at the mention of it. Tony grins at him because this is what he had wanted the first time he'd developed Iron Man; Rhodey being involved and providing a sounding board. Rhodey had been too pissed at him back then because of the weapons decision but that's not relevant anymore. This time he's been blown away by Tony asking for his advice about oversight and, well, not quite following it but coming up with a compromise.

"In the meantime," Meade says, "your new tactical vests for our troops are going down well in the field. I'm pretty certain the DOJ will also be knocking on your door for an equivalent for law enforcement."

Tony nods. "We still on for the joint press announcement on Monday?"

"All arranged with Ms Potts." Meade confirms.

They exchange a few more pleasantries before the video call wraps up and the screens go blank.

Tony sighs, tired. He taps his fingers against the arc reactor. He hasn't had time to deal with the palladium between building the suit, putting oversight in place, and changing the future of SI without losing the weapons production. But he's beginning to feel the effects of the palladium poisoning and that's not something he ever wanted to remember. He's going to have to deal with the reactor core soon.

"Sir, Ms Potts has sent you two critical emails requiring your attention and Mrs Arbogast has left four related to the new organisational structure in the Technology Division." JARVIS informs him briskly as DUM-E trundles up with an icepack.

"Thanks, J." Tony's voice can't hide his affection. He loves having JARVIS back (he may have fallen to the floor weeping the night he came home). He'd been fond of Vision but oh, he'd missed JARVIS.

The AI is now backed up in two additional remote server farms every night and Tony has coded in emergency measures in case of an attack like Ultron's (not that he's going to create Ultron again but just in case); he won't lose JARVIS, not again.

(And he's pointedly not thinking about what that means for Vision, for the mind stone).

Tony frowns as he pulls up the emails. He's kept his own position as CEO but he's made Pepper Chief Operating Officer. Her new position will be a good stepping stone to her becoming CEO. Mrs Arbogast has stepped in as his assistant and he's adjusting to the new regime. (He misses Pepper).

Tony spends the next few hours clearing his email and going through project proposals for the new tech division before he stops. He leans back in the chair, tired, so tired. He shifts the icepack and closes his eyes for a moment.

It's been a long few months.

He's run nothing but variables and scenarios with JARVIS to work out what to do to avoid Thanos and everything points to Maria Hill being unfortunately correct when she'd yelled at Thor that the invasion was all his fault.

Although, if Tony was being picky, it was really Odin's fault for choosing to banish Thor to Midgard thus drawing the attention of the rest of the universe back to them. (Thor himself had blamed them playing with the Tesseract but then why hadn't aliens invaded back during World War II…the Tesseract couldn't be the root cause.) Since Tony can't stop Odin from banishing Thor, it means it's going to happen regardless of what Tony does or doesn't do. All Tony can do is make sure they're more prepared; that they'll be ready to face Thanos and defeat him.

"Sir, Agent Coulson has arrived with a man I believe from your descriptions may be Director Fury." JARVIS announces smoothly.

Tony sighs heavily.

He throws the ice-pack to DUM-E and heads up to the living room to greet his visitors.

While being prepared for Thanos means he needs to play nicely with SHIELD, he hasn't really had a lot to do with them beyond Coulson's occasional drop-ins. He can't quite hide his hesitation at the sight of Fury (Tony's mind flashes with the memory of the helicarrier breaking apart in a fiery explosion and he blinks the image away). Luckily Fury's brooding appearance is probably enough to provide a reason for Tony's reaction.

Fury clears his throat and offers his hand, yanking Tony out of his head. "I'm Director Nick Fury. We've met once before, but I doubt you remember it."

"Was I drunk?" asks Tony dryly, shaking hands.

"You were eight." Fury responds.

"That's not a no." Tony points out lightly.

Fury looks amused as he nods at Coulson who leaves.

"Drink?" Tony gestures to the side and his decanter of whiskey. Fury inclines his head and Tony spends the next few minutes pouring them both a tumbler.

Fury takes the glass and raises it. "To your survival against the odds."

Tony matches the salute and takes a sip. Alcohol is still his biggest vice. It's hard not to want to drown himself some nights when the nightmares come and the need to save the future becomes overwhelming.

They wander outside to the table and chairs by the pool and Tony takes a moment to enjoy the view of a warm orange sun slowing sliding into the blue ocean.

"Congratulations on Gulmira." Fury states bluntly. "Your suit thing made quite an impression. What are the Air Force calling it? Iron Man?"

"Thanks." Tony shoots back.

"You really intend to continue to have such a direct involvement in hunting down your weapons?" asks Fury bluntly.

"I'm sure you already know the answer to that." Tony replies mildly. "I'm cleaning up a mistake."

Fury raises his glass again. "Maybe you've done enough. You've done a good job cleaning up SI."

"Would you stop?" Tony asks brusquely.

"No." Fury acknowledges.

Tony can see him come to a decision as Fury shifts position and sits forward to stare intently at Tony.

"I knew your father because he helped found SHIELD."

"I know." Tony says because he doesn't think he can pretend to act shocked enough to carry it off.

Fury's good eye narrows on him anyway. "Your Dad left explicit instructions that you were not to be directly involved with SHIELD. It's the reason why we don't even contract directly with SI but through the DOD. He wanted you safe."

"We don't always get what we want." Tony comments, irritated at Fury once again demonstrating just how little Tony really knew about his father.

"You can step back. Leave us to go after the weapons. Focus on your company." Fury states. "Do another Oprah interview."

Tony's exclusive one-to-one with Oprah about his experience a few weeks after his return had garnered the highest ratings of the year.

"I think you know my answer to that." Tony drains his glass and gets up. "If that's all?" He's taken two steps away when Fury calls out to him.

"Stane was found dead in his cell two hours ago."

The news freezes Tony for a second and it's his turn to stare at Fury.

"He strangled himself with his belt which is funny because he didn't have one." Fury stands up and continues calmly. "Coulson is making arrangements with Homeland for news to break of Stane's untimely and fatal heart attack while in custody; you'll want to prepare a statement."

"He's really dead?" Because Tony has to check. Has to.

"I saw the body myself." Fury confirms.

Tony nods and can't quite stop himself from touching his arc reactor. "Thanks for the heads up." He says before he cocks his head to the side. "You think someone killed him?"

"Yes." Fury states, eyes on Tony.

"Then it's an inside job." Tony points out, although he figures Fury already has to know. Still it can't hurt to give him a hint about the HYDRA parasite hiding in SHIELD's belly. "Maybe SI isn't the only part of my father's legacy which needs to clean house." He walks away and leaves Fury staring into the darkening horizon.

Two days later Coulson turns up with the crates from SHIELD filled with Howard's work and Tony has an excuse to replace the palladium core.


	4. Terrifying team-ups

_Plan A_

Tony eased into his parking spot in front of the Compound and sighed heavily. He'd rather face the UN panel than Spiderkid's hot Aunt May. It had barely been a couple of weeks since she'd discovered her nephew's secret and he couldn't blame her for being furious every time Peter got himself into trouble.

Unfortunately the kid didn't know how to stay out of trouble.

Peter had been helping a school friend with a gang problem and he'd almost been overwhelmed by the sheer number of opponents by the time Tony had been able to reach him and lend a hand. The evening had ended with most of the gang in the custody of the police and Peter sporting nothing more serious than a whole lot of bruises.

Tony rubbed a hand over his face and got out his car, leaving the Iron Man suitcase in the trunk. He was ready to snuggle up with Pepper and call it a night. But maybe a sandwich first, since saving Peter had interrupted his dinner. He breezed into the residential wing debating sandwich fillings and stopped dead at the sight of the visitors ensconced in the seating area.

A blonde Natasha looked back at him evenly, her expression as impassive as ever as she continued to sit comfortably in the overstuffed armchair. Clint got to his feet and gave a sharp nod but his eyes were guarded, wary. Laura smiled warmly at Tony from the sofa next to her husband but didn't get up since she had a toddler to wrangle on her lap. The other two Barton kids were on the rug playing with toys Tony didn't recognise; an entranced Vision sat on the ottoman nearby watching them avidly.

Tony slowly walked forward to stand beside the two-seater sofa where Pepper sat. His eyes flitted to Rhodey sat beside Pepper and wasn't surprised when Rhodey just made 'don't ask me' eyes in response to Tony's unspoken 'what's going on' eyebrow twitch.

Pepper cleared her throat and got to her feet. Like Tony, who was in jeans and an old long-sleeved t-shirt, she had dressed down that evening in leggings and an oversize MIT sweatshirt that had once belonged to Tony; her feet were bare.

"We have guests." She announced cheerfully and kissed him. She slid her hand into his and she squeezed his fingers gently.

"So I see." Tony replied, squeezing back.

Pepper smiled. "Laura," she said, "why don't I show you and the kids to the apartment and let these guys catch-up?"

"That sounds like a good idea." Laura said brightly.

It must have taken a few minutes for the children to be corralled but it felt like no time at all before the Avengers were left staring after the two women as they disappeared from view.

"Does anyone else find the two of them teaming up mildly terrifying?" asked Clint bluntly.

"I wouldn't say mildly." Rhodey stated.

"Yep," Tony agreed, "I'd just go for terrifying."

Natasha rolled her eyes at them, and for a second, it felt normal – but only for a second. Then silence fell and they all looked at each other.

"Well, this is awkward." Tony blurted out.

Clint grimaced but didn't disagree.

Natasha set her teacup aside and got to her feet gracefully. "Tony…"

"Look, Fury explained. Let's just…not." Tony said, desperate not to rake over the way they'd managed to fuck things up. He had briefed Rhodey and Vision about Fury's rooftop visitation so it wasn't like they didn't know either.

"You mean we just ignore what's happened instead of dealing with it like adults?" Natasha lifted an eyebrow.

Tony ignored the hefty sigh Rhodey heaved out. "Exactly."

"Works for me." Clint said as Natasha opened her mouth to argue.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"What?" Clint said roughly as Natasha glared at him. "I told Fury it was a stupid plan." He glanced over to Tony an apology shining in his eyes even if it wasn't spoken out loud.

Tony held his gaze and didn't say a thing as he did the same.

"All in favour of ignoring all the stupid?" Clint raised his hand.

Tony raised his straight away.

Rhodey sighed again but he eventually raised his hand.

Natasha rolled her eyes expressively at Clint and raised hers.

They all looked at Vision who seemed to be looking on with undisguised interest.

"According to most professionals skilled in mediation an open and honest discussion of events is necessary for individuals involved in a conflict to move forward without the hurts of the past colouring future interactions." Vision said.

Tony was torn between amusement and horror, and from the looks of the others it was a shared conundrum. He opened his mouth to say something – anything –

"However, I find myself most reluctant to take part in any discussion." Vision concluded. He raised his hand.

"Right! Good!" Tony dropped his arm. He slumped to his left and ended up perched on the arm of the sofa Pepper had vacated. "So, apart from the discussion we're not having, what brings you by?"

Natasha sat down gracefully and picked up her teacup. "You're a little short on personnel. We thought we'd offer our services."

That wasn't surprising. Tony figured it was Fury attempting to take the wheel again but it wasn't like he could afford to turn away the support. Spiderkid might have made the right decision not to join the Avengers, and Tony was proud of Peter, but the Avengers were short-handed with only Tony and Vision operationally fit, even if Rhodey could lend a hand through a remote interface to a suit.

Tony's gaze went straight to Clint. "Retirement?"

"I'm about as retired as you are." Clint said pointedly as he sank back onto the sofa. "I'll sign the Accords. It wasn't about that for me, you know. Laura…she and the kids…we're all going to be staying here now that way they get to see me and we can keep them safe. Pepper said something about a family apartment?"

Tony nodded. They'd changed up the residential layout in the redesign of the Compound. There were still single rooms and communal areas for those who wanted them, but otherwise there were small apartments complete with their own living spaces and multiple bedrooms.

"You'll need to provide a statement to the UN panel about what happened. They may ask for a secondary hearing to question you directly." Tony said.

Clint and Natasha inclined their heads in understanding.

"I have zero problems telling them exactly how my rights were trampled all over." Clint remarked. "And what Ross did to Wanda? That wasn't right."

Tony cleared his throat, giving voice to the question which had been nagging at him. "She not with you?"

Clint shook his head. "She was messed up when we got out."

Tony winced at the hint of accusation.

"Not your fault." Clint hurried out. "I know Ross is to blame for that but…it was bad."

"Fury arranged for her to stay with Xavier." Natasha said, lifting her legs to curl into the chair better. "Wanda agreed after talking with the Professor."

"He was good with her." Clint said softly.

"That's good." Tony said. He felt guilty but Charles Xavier was probably the best person to help her. He and his team had a good history with telepathy and telekinesis. It would certainly fulfil the UN's requirement that she receive additional training.

"Is Miss Maximoff allowed visitors?" asked Vision suddenly.

"Yeah," Clint nodded, and his expression was sympathetically compassionate as he looked over at Vision, "I was going to go over there tomorrow if you'd like to come along?"

Tony figured the offer was an olive branch after the way Clint and Wanda had treated Vision.

"I would like that. Thank you." Vision rose to his feet. "I think I will retire to my own quarters now." He floated away before anything else could be said.

"I bet you ten dollars he's going to turn up in the morning with a bouquet of flowers for her." Clint said jokingly.

"Chocolates," offered Natasha.

"As long as he doesn't try to cook something for her." Rhodey said, shaking his head. "Do not eat that stuff. Even DUM-E does better."

"DUM-E is older." Tony pointed out.

"Uh-huh." Rhodey agreed with amusement. "I think I'm going to hit the sack too." He got to his feet slowly, allowing the walking braces to support him. He nodded over to Clint and Natasha. "Good to have you back."

Tony forced himself not to follow as Rhodey walked stiffly out of the room.

"He's doing well." Natasha said.

Tony shrugged because Rhodey had good days when he was almost normal and bad days when he retreated to the wheelchair and stayed in his rooms. Helen Cho's new Cradle had helped heal the worst of the spinal damage but there was more to overcome. "He's getting there."

There was a 'blink and miss it' exchange between Natasha and Clint, and Tony wasn't surprised when Clint got to his feet and excused himself.

The archer paused after a couple of steps and turned back to Tony. "For what it's worth, Tony, I _am_ sorry."

"Me too. I'm sorry too." Tony said a touch awkwardly, but he met Clint's gaze.

Clint nodded, sketched a salute and made off in the direction of his family.

"Who knew?" said Natasha dryly. "You can both act like adults."

Tony shot her an annoyed look.

She looked back evenly. "I'm not going to apologise for letting them go at the airport. It was necessary." Her words are clipped, her accent faintly shining through. "I am sorry you had to find out the way you did about your parents."

"I thought we agreed we weren't doing this." Tony said shortly, surging to his feet.

"Tony…"

"Why?" asked Tony abruptly, swinging back around to look at her, his hands pushed into the pockets to hide the way they wanted to clench into fists. "Why not tell me?"

Natasha stood up and faced him fully. She crossed her arms over the crisp white shirt she was wearing. Her chin was up just a touch, a hint of her usual defiance. "After SHIELD fell, it wasn't top of my priority list, and by the time I could think about it, the team – we were working together well. Telling you would have only destabilised us; Steve isn't rational when it comes to Barnes and you were never going to be rational about the person who killed your parents."

She wasn't wrong; after all, she'd pretty much summarised why the clusterfuck in Siberia had gone down the way it did.

Tony caught her gaze and held it. "You need to stop playing both sides."

"You need to stop making this about your pride." Natasha shot back.

Tony tensed; anger surging through him.

Natasha suddenly seemed to realise that she'd misjudged. "Tony…"

"If you really think that this is about my pride," Tony said furiously, "then you should get out."

Natasha didn't move.

Tony spun away from her. He looked blindly out of the window into the grounds of the Compound. The silence stretched between them.

Tony sighed. He'd never been good at silence. "You know I get that you don't like me."

He glanced over just in time to see surprise flit across her face for a millisecond.

"I was an ass when you and I met. I think I have a reasonable excuse for acting like an ass since I was dying." Tony continued as he turned his attention back to the outside. "I was dying and making bad decisions because I didn't know how to deal with it. I also seem to remember you even encouraged me to make bad decisions but hey, I was an ass and I get why you don't like me."

Natasha stayed silent, but he felt her eyes on him.

"I thought when we were…when we came together as a team," Tony gestured impatiently, "I thought you'd realised that I might be an ass, but I'm mostly a well-meaning ass even if you never agreed with me on anything." He barked out a short laugh. "Really I should have known it was a set-up when you suddenly agreed with me on the Accords." He shook his head and turned back to her. "Doesn't matter. Prefer Rogers, take his side, think I'm an ass. I don't care. Just stop being such a patronising bitch when I call you out on it."

Natasha waited a beat.

"Can I speak now or would you like to berate me some more for doing my damn job?" She cut him off before he could speak again. "You hate that I fooled you, and you've never let it go. Maybe if you could let it go for one damn minute you'd see that I'm not playing both sides; I'm trying to keep us together."

She turned away from him and folded her arms over her chest.

Tony tapped his fingers on his chest, vaguely aware it was where the arc reactor had sat. "So when you tell me to stop with my ego what you're saying is that I should get over being fooled by you?"

"Mostly." Natasha said coolly, turning back to him. "I also mean stop being an ass." She paused. "Even a well-meaning ass."

And suddenly Tony was just tired.

"Not trusting you has never been about my ego." Tony said wearily and waved her off when she would have argued. "Not really. Yeah, you fooled me, but I get that Fury sent you in to spy on me and you did your job. I get that. But it's not a great basis for trust. Fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice…" He sighed. "Just be straight with me. That's all I'm asking." He tried a smile. "And I'll try to be less of an ass."

Natasha regarded him for a long moment before she gave a slow nod. "And Steve?"

"Needs to sort his own mess out." Tony shot back. He wasn't going to discuss that with her.

She nodded again. "Goodnight, Tony."

He watched as she slipped away. He turned back to the window and rested his forehead on the cool glass.

"Hey, you." Pepper said softly.

Her arms encircled him and Tony twisted into her embrace, suddenly aware of how he was trembling, faintly shaking from all his emotions surging up again; the grief and pain and loss...

And Pepper just kept holding him tightly; holding him together.

 _Plan Z_

The main stage of the Stark Expo is lit up below him. It's built as though they're putting on a rock concert not just celebrating the latest in technology and scientific discoveries. Once a week, there'll be a main presentation and demonstration with top of the line audio-visual equipment. Tonight is opening night and nerves crowd Tony's belly as he flies in.

The Expo in the last timeline was all about Tony wanting to leave a legacy because he was dying and he's not this time thanks to the new core in his arc reactor. He's gone ahead with the Expo mainly because of timeline continuity and also because it will help rehabilitate his own image.

For that reason, much of the previous glamour and glitz has been toned down in favour of corporate slick presentations, think tank lectures, and rotating debates on any number of scientific theories. There are no dancing girls entertaining the crowd. One conference hall is filled with booths of companies displaying things for sale and investment, and Stark Industries is donating the marketing revenue to selected good causes around the world.

There's also a known threat.

Coulson had turned up the week before and briskly informed Tony about Justin Hammer employing Ivan Vanko, and that they believed there would be an attempt on Tony's life at the Stark Expo. SHIELD apparently have an agent buried in Hammer Industries. (Tony's not stupid enough to believe they don't have someone in SI too but there's no sign of Natalie Rushman yet).

SHIELD are providing Tony with free protection until they can take down Hammer and Vanko, but apparently Tony doesn't need to worry about the details and should go about his business as usual. That particular statement when Tony had recounted the meeting to Pepper had provoked Pepper into asking 'what the hell' because Pepper is awesome.

Tony pushes thoughts of SHIELD, Hammer and Vanko out of his head.

Iron Man lands with panache in the middle of the Stark Expo stage. Tony smiles as the suit dismantles itself around him revealing his smart tuxedo. He cheekily adjusts his bowtie, straightens his cuffs and steps out of the suit which reassembles and walks off to the side to take up a sentinel position. Tony may have been careful not to move too many steps ahead in advancing the latest Iron Man suit, but disassembling is must (he knows he's walking a fine line with causality).

It's the first time Iron Man has been shown off in a public venue. All Tony's missions are classified, and any footage is released to the public carefully and only with the full agreement from his oversight panel. They'd agreed to tonight's demo though and Tony happily shows off the red and gold suit to the geeks and nerds crowded into the open air arena.

"Welcome to the Stark Expo!" Tony announces brightly and begins his presentation. It's not so much about Iron Man but about the technological advancements which are going to come out of Tony's work; prosthetics, improved body armour, the arc reactor and clean energy primarily.

He's almost finished. He's onto the question and answer section. He's enjoying himself. He's already fielded queries about the importance of knowing human biology in the design of the armour, deflected (no pun intended) queries about the repulsors, and engaged in a lengthy exchange about affordable prosthetics with a physical therapist who he offers a job to on the spot. Then, Hammer steps up to ask a question at the audience microphone.

"Good to see you again, Tony!" Justin smarms into the microphone which he picks up from the stand. "We at Hammer Industries really admire the way you've turned your tragedy into success! Don't we all feel that way? Come on! Give it up for Tony everyone!" With every word, he's slowly making his way from the audience to the steps at the side of the stage.

One of the tech assistants goes to intercede but Tony shakes his head and Justin makes it onto the stage as the audience applauds sporadically, not sure what to make of SI's biggest competitor making such a song and dance.

One thing Tony is certain about is that Justin has no stomach to kill him himself; he has Vanko for that and so far Tony hasn't seen any hint of the tattooed Russian convict.

Tony smiles tightly. "What's your question, Justin?"

"It's more like a show and tell." Justin jokes, winking at the audience. He gestures as he approaches the Iron Man suit. "Isn't it true that the real gem in this suit – the heart of it if you will – is all about this beauty." He raps against the suit's glowing arc reactor because Tony has learned his lesson and his own doesn't power the suits this time round.

Tony continues to smile. "Was that your question, Justin?"

Justin freezes just a touch but it's enough for the audience to notice and some nervous twittering break out.

"Your Dad invented this, right? The great Howard Stark? A father to us all in the weapons industry it has to be said. He was the one to invent the arc reactor." Justin recovers quickly, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"I think I might have mentioned that in my presentation, once or twice." Tony turns to the audience who laugh appreciatively at his gently poking fun because Tony has mentioned it in his presentation. "And as I said, Dad worked with a team to make it happen."

"Including Anton Vanko, right, Tony?" Justin retorts.

"Including Doctor Vanko." Tony replies, happily taking Justin aback who was clearly unprepared for Tony to agree with him. "He contributed a lot to the initial design of the arc reactor before he was found guilty of espionage and deported."

Justin blinks at Tony.

"So was that your question?" prods Tony. "Only I think we just have time for one more before we wrap up…"

The audience breaks out into loud denials and catcalls for more time.

Justin has to yell into the microphone to be heard. "HEY! I'M NOT FINISHED!"

"Get off the stage!" Someone from the audience shouts.

There's a couple of boos which follow and Tony allows them before he raises a hand and quietens the audience down.

"Let's give Justin another chance, right?" Tony says with mock sincerity. "Some people just take a while to get to the point."

Justin glares at him. "Let me get straight to the point then, Tony. You may have the arc reactor but you're not the only one! I'd like to welcome to the stage, Ivan Vanko and the Hammer arc reactor!" He spins to point at the stage-wing and there's nobody there.

Nobody.

Tony makes a show of peering behind Justin before looking at the audience and shrugging.

Justin charges up to the side of the stage and glowers into the empty area. "But I thought…we just…he was supposed to be here!" He looks about ready to stamp his feet.

"Well, performance issues." Tony jokes causing the audience to laugh. "All men get them or so I'm told!"

Natasha suddenly appears next to Justin from seemingly nowhere. She's dressed in a black tailored dress with red stilettos adorning her feet. Her hair is curly and deep red, falling around her face in artful disarray. She looks beautiful and deadly as she takes hold of Justin's arm.

"A round of applause for Justin!" Tony shouts. "Go with the lovely lady, Justin. She'll take care of you."

He takes another question before wrapping up and heading backstage, the suit following behind him like a puppy remotely piloted by JARVIS. Coulson is waiting for him.

"This way, Mister Stark."

Tony doesn't bother arguing, he just follows Coulson into Tony's own very large trailer, leaving the Iron Man suit just outside. Natasha and Clint are already there with a babbling Justin and Vanko's body which is wrapped up in what remains of the whips and bristling with arrows – one has been put straight through the arc reactor, another through Vanko's eye. Tony can maybe understand why Justin is babbling since Clint is busily fondling an arrow in the corner and looking appropriately menacing.

Justin sees Tony and lurches towards him. "Tony! These people are crazy! You have to save…AHHH!" The taser nodes hit Justin with several volts of electricity and he falls to the ground.

Tony lifts an eyebrow at Coulson.

"My apologies for taking over your trailer but there is a delay with our exit vehicle." Coulson says mildly, putting away the taser.

"Our first one got cut in half by a whip thing." Clint remarks dryly.

Coulson shoots him a look which says 'shut up.' Clint stares back impassively with an amused smirk. Tony's lips twitch with amusement. He'd never seen Coulson and Clint interact since Coulson had died before Clint had been recovered. It's weird seeing them together but the novelty of finding out that Coulson considers Clint just as much a pain in the ass as Tony is hilarious.

"I like you." Tony points at Clint. "And not just for the, uh, saving my life."

Clint smiles back at him.

"Mister Stark, meet Agents Barton and Romanov." Coulson says dryly. "I'm going to leave Agent Romanov with you to provide protection going forward. I believe she'll prove an asset to you as your new assistant, Miss Rushman."

"Why would I need protection going forward?" asks Tony, gesturing at the floor. "You seem to have this wrapped up. Literally."

"You're a target." Natasha replies, crossing her arms in a way that draws attention to her cleavage.

Tony ignores the blatant invitation to look and get distracted. "I've always been a target."

"But now you're a red and gold shiny target." Clint quips.

"So you want to protect Iron Man." Tony says. "Not me."

"We want to protect both of you." Coulson says, shooting Clint another look. "Your time in Afghanistan brought home your importance to the economy and our country's security. We have been lax in the past and Director Fury is keen to ensure we are not lax now."

"I thought my Dad didn't want SHIELD anywhere near me." Tony says pointedly.

"He also wanted you safe and…"

The trailer door flies open and Pepper storms in, banging it shut behind her.

"Tony, why aren't you…" Pepper jolts to a halt beside him and slaps a hand over her mouth at the sight of Hammer and Vanko. "Oh my God! Oh my God! Is that…"

"Pep! Pep!" Tony takes hold of her and turns her so she's looking away from the bodies and at him.

"…are those bodies?! Is that Justin Hammer?!" Pepper clutches onto his arm. "Did you kill Justin Hammer?!"

"What? NO!" He grasps both her shoulders. "Pepper! Calm down! You remember Agent Coulson?" He waves at him.

Coulson to his credit does nothing more than nod. "Miss Potts."

"Agent Coulson." Pepper breathes deeply. Her eyes slide to Clint and Natasha before returning to Tony. "Why is Justin Hammer and another man lying on the floor of your trailer?"

"Agent tased Justin." Tony says. "Which was tremendous. I've always wanted to do that. I think I should be allowed to at least once…"

"Tony…"

And there's Pepper's 'start telling me exactly what you did so I can fix it' tone.

"Unfortunately, Justin brought along Mister Vanko and he, uh, well, you remember that threat Agent warned us about…"

Pepper glares momentarily at Coulson again.

"Well, apparently Vanko was it." Tony concludes. "But no need to worry because Agent Barton neutralised him with lots of arrows."

Pepper's eyes return to the bodies on the floor. She takes a deep breath. "And they're in your trailer because?"

"Our vehicle was damaged in the fight with Mister Vanko." Coulson says calmly. "Agent Barton and I will be leaving shortly. Agent Romanov will assume a position as Mister Stark's assistant to provide protection going forward."

"And I was just explaining that Agent Romanov will not be doing any such thing since the threat is over and I'm no more of a target now than I ever was." Tony states immediately because he's not putting up with Coulson trying to use Pepper to manage him again.

Pepper takes a deep breath. "OK." She takes another breath and pats Tony's hand which he'd left on her shoulder. "This is what is going to happen."

She turns and glares at Coulson which – woah! – Tony doesn't think he's ever seen Pepper glare at anyone like that before. Well, maybe Killian just before Pepper stuck a missile in him.

"You, Agent Coulson," Pepper states firmly, "are going to remove Mister Vanko and Justin Hammer from this trailer and ensure no negative publicity touches SI or Tony about this incident. Also, the arc reactor is patented SI property and Mister Vanko's illegal version should be left in this trailer. If these two things do not happen then I will not hesitate to use every weapon SI manufactures to raze SHIELD to the ground until nothing is left including your Director's eye-patch. Is that clear?"

Tony just looks at her with glee since Coulson's unflappable demeanour looks a touch flustered in the face of Pepper's anger.

"I'll take care of it." Coulson replies.

"Good." Pepper turns to look at Natasha and her eyes rake over her. "I'm afraid Agent Romanov will not be acceptable."

Tony doesn't have to see Natasha's face to see how that goes down. "Now, Pep…"

"No, Tony." Pepper says forcefully. "Apart from the security issues with having a known spy be your assistant, you've been working really hard to clean up your image, and you and I both know what the press will think if a beautiful young woman is suddenly taken on as 'your assistant.'"

"Fair point." Tony murmurs, and wonders how he had missed that particular nuance of SHIELD's manipulation the first time round.

Natasha assesses him with a cool gaze and he wonders if that was part of what they had planned for him this time.

Pepper looks around him to Clint. "You…you got rid of Vanko?"

"Uh," Clint looks surprised to be addressed and automatically straightens, "yes, ma'am."

"So if Tony needs protection, you can be Tony's driver and bodyguard." Pepper says.

"Miss Potts," Coulson begins.

Pepper just looks at him.

Coulson folds like a bad hand of cards. "Agent Barton."

"Yes, sir." Clint is having a hard time keeping the laughter out of his voice.

"You'll be taking over Agent Romanov's assignment as Mister Stark's driver and bodyguard." Coulson sounds like he hates saying every word.

Natasha's expression softens and Tony figures she's just as amused as Clint.

"What about Happy?" asks Tony, because his erstwhile friend is already waiting for him by the car.

"Happy can accompany me back to Malibu." Pepper offers. "I need a driver anyway since you'll be staying in New York more with the Expo for the next few months."

Tony beams at Pepper. "You're magnificent. I owe you a pair of shoes - no, two pairs of shoes. You should get right on that."

She smiles back at him warmly. Tony thinks of his plans to start romancing her and grins back rather than invite her to dinner, because she won't be pleased if he invites her to dinner when there's a body on the floor.

"Will that be all, Mister Stark?" Pepper asks brightly.

"That will be all, Miss Potts." Tony says, grinning madly at her.

Pepper shoots one last distasteful look at the floor and leaves the trailer.

Clint whistles. "She's…"

"Brilliant." Tony offers.

"I was going with terrifying." Clint says.

"That too." Tony agrees happily.


	5. A God among men

_Plan A_

Thor arrived back on a suitably rainy Thursday, sombre and grimly determined.

Tony took a moment to stare open-mouthed at the spaceship which dropped Thor off, and then at Thor's haircut, before he got swept up in ushering his Asgardian friend inside to the communal kitchen.

Laura greeted them cheerfully but if sensing the seriousness of whatever discussion was about to happen, she deftly corralled the Barton family minus Clint and left the Avengers to talk business.

"You're missing a hammer." Tony noted as he handed over a beer for Thor.

"Hela, the Goddess of Death and my older sister, destroyed it and my eye." Thor said sadly, touching the dark eye-patch gently. "It's part of the reason why I return."

"So, I'm getting the impression you're not just back to catch up?" Clint remarked. He took a beer from Tony and raised it at Thor.

Rhodey took a beer and clinked it gently against Tony's. "I think we're all getting that impression."

"You went in search of information, did you not? Have you obtained it since your last visit?" Vision looked over at Thor with what Tony had deemed his puppy-dog expression. Vision had been enamoured with Thor during the short time they'd spent together. Tony figured it was partially due to owing his lifeforce to Thor's lightning. Thor was as much his creator as Tony, Bruce and JARVIS. It was a complicated family tree, Tony considered.

Thor nodded soberly. "Unfortunately, it is not good news."

The tale of Ragnarok and Asgard falling chilled them all. Somehow the news that Loki was alive wasn't entirely surprising. Neither was the news about Thanos and his quest to gather the infinity stones to become all powerful and kill all life as they knew it in some mad sacrifice to Death. They'd known something big was coming. Tony had known it from the moment he'd taken the nuke through the portal.

Natasha accepted another cup of tea and looked over at Thor. "You said you'd seen Bruce?"

"He was transformed into himself for only a short time before we needed Hulk." Thor said.

"How did he get into space?" Natasha pressed.

"I do not know for certain, but it appeared he went through a portal. The ship's log was not complete."

"But he was alive when you saw him last." Natasha held his gaze firmly.

"He was." Thor said. "However, I cannot say what became of him beyond the moment I was cast out into space by the Mad Titan."

"We'll need to convene the UN panel and have you inform them of the threat." Tony said rubbing his forehead. "How much time do you think we have?"

Thor frowned. "Not enough I fear."

Tony nodded. That sounded about right.

Thor looked around the room. "If the others are on a mission, I can retrieve them?"

Tony glanced around the group and saw them all looking back at him. "Rogers and Wilson are wanted as international criminals."

Thor shook his head as though he hadn't heard correctly. "What crime did they commit?"

Tony sighed. "Anyone else want to jump in here?"

"Noooo." Natasha eased away from where she was resting on the breakfast bar and pointedly hid her face in her teacup.

Clint raised his beer. "All yours."

Rhodey raised his eyebrows which was Rhodey-speak for 'this is yours.'

"I believe we all feel you are best able to explain events." Vision offered almost apologetically.

Tony's thumb worried at the beer label and he set the drink down. "Right. So. After Sokovia, the UN…" he paused and shot a look at Thor. "Uh, the UN…"

"The Lady Darcy informed me of your United Nations." Thor said.

He only vaguely remembered Jane Foster's sassy assistant but Lewis got kudos for educating Thor, Tony thought.

"Right, so they sent in a team of inspectors to investigate. We were cleared of any malicious or negligent actions in Ultron's creation…" he gestured, "while Ultron did a good job of trashing everything on his way out, the footage and records which I retrieved and handed over as evidence did show the interface we were working on was not ready when Ultron activated."

"Long story short; we don't know how Ultron happened." Clint added.

"Alien artefact with a mind of its own." Tony shrugged. "We might never know what set it off but as far as it could be determined, it wasn't down to us."

"Then I owe you an apology, Stark." Thor said gravely.

"You backed us up when it came to Vision." Tony said. "That meant a lot."

Thor inclined his head.

"Anyway, the upshot of the UN inspection was a recommendation for the Avengers to be subject to more oversight." Tony continued. "They drafted a document called the Sokovia Accords which laid out the framework and over a hundred countries agreed it should be ratified." He held up a hand to stop the obvious next question. "We weren't asked for input. We tried to find a way in but nobody was talking to us."

"Until it was presented to us as a done deal." Natasha commented.

"It was presented that way because things went FUBAR in Lagos and people died. The UN wanted the document ratified sooner because of that." Rhodey corrected. "And there was a process for amendments."

Natasha inclined her head in acceptance.

"Unfortunately, the person who brought them to us was the then Secretary of State, Thaddeus Ross." Tony said. "He was the military General who chased after Bruce so nobody liked the messenger. But the message itself? Well, we had a difference of opinion in the team."

"Some of us believed signing up to the Accords was the right thing to do." Rhodey took a few minutes to lay out the basic terms of the Accords and Tony was pleased when Thor nodded along to the main points.

"In the end," Tony added, "some of us figured we should listen to the countries who thought we'd gotten too careless and needed boundaries."

"Steve wanted us to remain independent." Natasha explained succinctly. "He didn't want us to be under anybody's control where we could be used to further an agenda we didn't believe in or agree with."

Thor's face crumpled into another frown. "Darcy told me the UN is an international forum to enable peace-keeping, mediation, constructive discussion and concerted efforts to prevent another world war."

Really good for Darcy, Tony thought. She deserved a new taser or something.

"Are these not aims upon which we would all agree?" asked Thor with a solemnity befitting a king.

"Exactly." Rhodey lifted his beer.

"Our Captain is not here then because he did not agree to these Accords?" Thor prompted, looking back towards Tony.

"Partly," Tony said, "Rogers did indicate he _would_ sign-up with safeguards but it wasn't just about the Accords."

"A former Sokovian Colonel bombed the UN Assembly at the ratification of the Accords in Vienna and framed the Winter Soldier, Captain Roger's friend James Barnes, for the incident." Vision supplied briskly. "The Captain and Mister Wilson obstructed the taskforce of the Joint Counter-Terrorism Unit when they were deployed to arrest Sergeant Barnes. Sergeant Barnes violently resisted arrest and collapsed a road tunnel to further obstruct law enforcement. His Majesty King T'Challa who was seeking revenge for the death of his father in Vienna also obstructed the taskforce."

"Unfortunately, nobody knew about Zemo right then." Tony jumped back in. "Rogers didn't know Barnes hadn't done it."

"He believed he was best placed to bring Barnes in safely." Natasha stressed.

"And he'd been told Barnes would be shot on sight." Clint lifted a hand. "He wanted to protect his friend."

"But it made things worse." Natasha sighed. "Because Steve hadn't signed the Accords, his actions looked…"

"Arrogant." Thor supplied. "As though he had no care."

"We can give you the blow by blow later," Tony said, "but Zemo continued to disrupt things using Barnes which meant Rogers went off the reservation and he dragged Wilson, Clint, Wanda and some other guy with him, and of course Ross took advantage of the situation. We ended up fighting each other."

"Basically Ross, the douchebag, proves Steve's point for him about using the Avengers under the Accords for his own agenda." Clint stated.

Tony paused to swallow around the lump in his throat. "When I get the evidence Barnes is being framed, I go to Siberia to help them with Zemo, who they think has other Winter Soldiers on ice."

"What happens in Siberia?" asked Thor pointedly because he'd caught the catch in Tony's voice he'd thought he'd covered.

Tony grimaced. "Zemo wasn't interested in the Winter Soldiers. He had video evidence of Barnes…of him killing my parents. I may not have reacted well."

Thor looked at him thoughtfully. "Steven knew?"

Tony gave a sharp nod. "Didn't tell me, obviously."

"You fought." Thor summarised. "You wished to avenge your parents and the Captain sought once more to protect his friend."

"In a nutshell." Tony agreed.

"Steve broke the rest of us out of prison and soon after that Tony convinced the UN panel to sanction Ross who, thank the President, finally lost his job in the fallout, and most of our actions got stamped as being in good faith because of the threat we believed was present." Clint explained. "Nat and I came back when we were officially cleared and signed the Accords."

"And the witch?" asked Thor. "Where is she?"

Clint bristled. " _Wanda_ was mistreated in prison, Thor."

Thor held up a hand rather than argue. "Peace."

"Miss Maximoff is staying with Charles Xavier. She is making good progress in controlling her powers and recovering from her time as a prisoner." Vision offered.

"Steve on the other hand is on the run. He's wanted for the obstruction charges, same with Sam and Barnes." Natasha said.

"Hence they're considered criminals." Clint said, his tone giving away his unhappiness with that.

"It is a pity." Thor said. "We cannot afford division when we face Thanos. Do we not know of any means to contact them?"

Tony shrugged. "I have a way to contact Rogers."

Nobody looked surprised although he had never told them.

Clint caught his gaze. "Maybe it's time to reach out. We're going to need them."

Tony sighed and gestured at Natasha and Rhodey. "We'll need to bring the UN panel on this. Can you…"

"We'll make the arrangements." Natasha agreed.

Tony set his beer down and headed to his workshop.

He opened a drawer and lifted out the phone Rogers had sent him. He kept it charged just in case because he'd known, he'd always known, he'd have to call it sooner or later. He sat down and placed it on the desk in front of him. His heart was pounding. He pressed a hand against his chest where his arc reactor had once sat.

"It is not easy to reach out for help, especially to one who has betrayed your trust."

Thor's voice sounded behind him and Tony jerked around, startled. He caught Thor's eye briefly, surprised by the compassion and understanding within the solemn gaze, and turned away again to look at the phone.

"You did it with Loki, right? That whole convergence thing? And again with Hela?"

Thor moved to lean against the workbench just behind Tony and Tony turned to face him.

"My love for Jane, the need for her to be saved and for us to defeat the Elves to save all the realms, and most recently to save Asgard from Hela…these things were greater than my hurt at Loki's betrayals." Thor said, crossing his arms over his formidable chest. "But it was difficult not least because he is my brother and I love him."

"I get why Steve protected Barnes." Tony admitted. "If it had been Rhodey..." he shook his head because while he wasn't certain he'd have done exactly the same as Steve, he didn't doubt he'd have done _something_ , "…so I understand _why_."

"But regardless his actions caused you hurt." Thor said quietly.

Tony didn't think he needed to reply to that. "I really don't know if I can work with him again."

"I am certain you will," Thor's hand landed heavily on his shoulder, "your love for those in your heart and for this world is far greater than the hurt he has caused you."

Tony bowed his head. "Barnes killed my Mom." He said softly as though if he talked quietly enough it would somehow make it not real.

Thor's fingers carefully stroked up to squeeze the back of Tony's neck, but it was a comforting squeeze; a shared hurt because Thor had lost his Mom too and understood.

Tony took a deep breath and raised his head. He turned and picked up the phone. He glanced back over his shoulder. "You don't need to stay, Point Break."

"I would be a poor friend if I did not." Thor countered.

And, OK, that right there was why Thor was a godly king among men. Tony made the call.

 _Plan Z_

Tony slides into the seat next to Thor at the bar and gives him a smile, momentarily taken aback at seeing Thor with long hair again. Thor smiles tentatively back with curiosity in his startling blue eyes. Two blue eyes. Tony shakes off his disconcertment before Thor can notice it.

"I'm Tony. He's Clint." He introduces himself and Barton quickly, before he gestures to the bartender to bring another round. Somehow, he's not surprised at the boilerplates that arrive.

Clint sighs beside him, ignores the shot of clear liquid which Tony is betting is tequila, but takes a gulp of beer with an expression which says he deserves beer since Tony dragged him off site from the hammer to follow Selvig and 'Donald' to the bar.

Tony winces as Thor immediately downs the shot and begins to down the tankard of beer. He gamely downs his own shot and grimaces at the hit of cheap liquor. He's not entirely certain that was tequila.

"Tony Stark?!" Erik Selvig arrives back from the bathroom and stares at Tony in astonishment.

Tony places a finger up to his lips and gestures for Selvig to sit down. Clint is already watching to make sure nobody heard. "Just passing through, Doctor Selvig." He'd even dressed down in jeans, t-shirt and hoodie.

"You know my name?!" Erik almost collapses onto the stool beside Thor and gestures at Tony. "He's Tony Stark."

"You are important in this realm?" Thor asks, looking again at Tony as though he can't believe Tony is somebody important.

Tony's about to reply but Selvig beats him to it.

"He's a genius." Selvig states enthusiastically. "He's been at the forefront of our technology advancements since he was a boy. He's primarily an expert in weapons design but he holds two doctorates, one in physics and one in engineering. His paper on the gravitational forces of planets in an expanding universe and the practical application in aeronautical navigation is mandatory reading for all physicists and engineers. It's brilliant." He points at Tony. "Brilliant. I mean he's also an idiot. But brilliant."

"Thank you." Tony says dryly. "I'm particularly proud of the idiot part."

Selvig stares suspiciously at Clint and drunkenly leans over Thor to whisper loudly at Tony. "Has SHIELD abducted you too?"

Tony almost laughs. He can't quite believe he's in New Mexico but apparently realising how terrifying Pepper could be had gained him points with Coulson. He takes a gulp of the beer.

"I'm here consulting, namely about the hammer." Tony points at Thor. "Your hammer, right?"

Erik pauses in his beer drinking to mouth the words 'hammer' at Tony who ignores him.

"Mjölnir is no longer mine to wield." Thor states sadly, putting his glass down with some force. "I am no longer worthy because I was arrogant and courted war. My father exiled me here to learn this lesson."

Tony nods. "Weapons shouldn't be in the hands of those who'd court war for war's sake. I was arrogant, well still am but getting better-ish? Just…I let my weapons end up in the hands of people who aren't worthy and now I'm working to correct that."

"Weapons should be in the hands of heroes." Selvig says slurring. "You said that on Oprah."

"I am no hero." Thor says miserably. "With my father's death I can no longer return home and prove myself to him."

Tony nods sympathetically but his mind is racing. He really, really can't remember anything about Odin dying before Thor's tale of Ragnarok. Did that happen? Or is this something to do with Odin-sleep? He should have paid more attention to Thor's stories.

"You can still be a hero." Tony says. "And presumably your Dad meant for you to prove yourself here otherwise why send the hammer with you?"

"You really think so?" asks Thor.

He looks so damn young.

"I do." Tony says. "I think if he didn't believe you could prove yourself worthy of it again, he wouldn't have placed it within your reach."

"You speak wisely, Stark." Thor says. "Or perhaps I simply wish to believe you are right."

Clint's cell phone rings and he shoots Tony a 'I told you so' look before answering.

"OK, so that's probably Supernanny telling me off for sneaking out, so…" Tony offers his hand, "Good luck, Thor. If you ever need a friend, come find me."

"Thank you, Stark." Thor raises his empty glass and sets it down.

Clint nudges Tony, who throws down enough bills to cover their drinks and more, and they head out of the smoky bar and into the crisp cold air of a New Mexico night.

"You _really_ think he's Thor, the God of Thunder Thor, and that thing is his magical hammer?" asks Clint as they walk over to their SHIELD issued car – well, liberated because Coulson hadn't exactly issued them a car.

"Look," Tony says, pausing and leaning over the car roof, "you have a major atmospheric disturbance in the presence of a scientist who studies Einstein-Rosen bridge theory, a hammer not conforming to any normal reading remotely associated with Earth metallurgy, and a man who claims he's Thor. You do the math."

"I guess I've heard of crazier things." Clint allows.

"Really?" Tony blurts out.

"No." Clint shoots back. "Get in the car, Tony. Coulson says consult is over and we're to head back to New York. Your jet's waiting for us at Albuquerque."

Tony raises his hands in surrender. He's already advised Coulson that he thinks they should evacuate the town and been ignored. He knows the locals all escaped without major injury last time so he can only hope it will hold true again. It's difficult sometimes knowing what to change and what he shouldn't.

But he's had the opportunity to make friends with Thor early this time and he doesn't think that's a bad thing.

He and Clint are back in New York when Coulson calls to tell them Thor has turned out to be a worthy superhero, and both he and the hammer are gone.


	6. Time moves

_Plan A_

There were a million and one things to be done to prepare for Thanos and Tony couldn't seem to stop time slipping through his fingers.

Ironic when one of their new allies apparently was in possession of the time infinity stone. The Eye of Agamotto hung around Stephen Strange's neck in a gold pendant combination which made him look like a nineteen-seventies television magician. The semi-sentient cloak didn't help to do anything to dispel that image either.

Weirdly, he'd vaguely known Strange. Strange had been at the top of his game as a surgeon and had attended a number of the same society events that Tony had attended in New York. Mostly they'd known each other to say hello to and chat about how bad the chicken was, but there was a familiarity which Tony appreciated in the avalanche of new superheroes who turned up to help out with Thanos.

(Every superhero but Rogers who apparently either hadn't picked up the voicemails Tony had left or didn't care. Or he cared, he just didn't believe Tony. Natasha had gone in search of Steve the day before and hopefully she'd track his ass down before Thanos arrived.)

"I don't think this is giving us anything we can work with." Tony sighed as he compared the readings on the time stone with the Tesseract and the mind stone data trying to see if there was something they could use.

"You're assuming that the infinity stones will correspond to our limited knowledge of physics." Strange pointed out.

"Excuse me, if – and this is pun really goddamn intended, I don't have _time_ right now to discover a whole new school of physics which completely rewrites everything we know about the known universe." Tony crumpled up the holographic readout and consigned it to a folder he had labelled 'pointless.'

Strange shrugged. "I thought the same when I went to Kamar-Taj."

"Why can't we use the time stone again?" asked Tony. "Let's just use it like a Time-Turner and give ourselves more time to prepare."

"Using the time stone breaks the natural laws." Strange said as though reciting a rule book – which perhaps he was since he grimaced right after as though he had sucked on something sour. "I've used it once to save us from being swallowed up by a different dimension but…it's not a fix-all. Time travels on a linear path for a reason."

Tony cocked his head and sat down on the stool, absently patting DUM-E who whirred over to him for some attention. "Linear. No quantum jump then or alternate universe creation?"

"Linear." Strange said firmly. "Time can be looped and overwritten but it always moves forward even if temporarily rolled back."

"You're going to disappoint the quantum theorists." Tony said.

"Not really since quantum mechanics exists. It's just not a factor when time travelling within your own quantum reality." Strange said. "Alternate universes, different dimensions of space and time. There's a whole existence out there which as scientists we've only started to prove mathematically never mind determine if there's a mechanism for travel or even just to watch." He raised his mug of coffee. "Magic on the other hand can bridge the divide; open up windows into different dimensions, alter the very fabric of the reality around us."

"Any technology sufficiently advanced…" began Tony.

"Would appear like magic to those who don't know it." Strange nodded. "The fact is there is more we don't know than we do."

"And using the time stone…"

"Has the ability to tear apart our reality." Strange said. "Reversing time breaks the natural law that it moves forward. You can't account for every variable as it returns to its forward motion. As a quick fix in a single event maybe we get away with it but time isn't easily changed. The natural course of a river will attempt to return to itself when diverted."

"So time travel would be useless then to fix something like this." Tony summarised. "We couldn't just rewind and get the jump on him."

"Thanos has been planning this for centuries. He's an alien being living in a part of the universe we don't know and can't travel to with our own technology right now never mind in years past." Strange pointed out. "Even if you went back thirty years what could you actually do to prevent this?"

Tony accepted that with a slow nod. "But time to prepare now…"

"It isn't a Time Turner. You go back to your own body within the same time stream. You go back to the same position. You walk through the same day. Maybe you try and retain the knowledge of the first day but as you don't relearn it but focus on expanding it, you're creating a paradox where you didn't learn the first part. You're just repeating a day over and over, like Groundhog Day."

"That's a great film." Tony reminisced. "OK, so not a groundhog day, but how about something which just sends someone back a couple of years. They could use all that time to prepare, make a more stable world, eliminate the things which put us at a disadvantage." He shrugged. "It's just a thought." And he could think of another ten or twenty decisions he might have changed if he'd known about Thanos sooner.

"Say you went back, what would you change that would make a _real_ difference?" asked Strange.

And Tony knew he wasn't just asking to be a dick but because he was really interested.

"Me?" asked Tony. "Wouldn't it be you?"

Strange shook his head. "I wouldn't be well-placed. I mean, I could abandon my successful career as a surgeon and go to Kamar-Taj, and maybe the Sorcerer Supreme wouldn't have my balls for using the Eye and would accept me again, but…that only means I get to where I am now earlier. If I had turned up on your doorstep a few years ago would you have believed me?"

"Maybe after New York." Tony replied honestly.

"OK, but I don't really know the detail of what the Avengers did or didn't do before now. How do I know what decisions to support and which to negate?" Strange pointed at Tony. "Now, you, on the other hand, you're probably the best placed out of everybody to go back."

"Thor." Tony countered.

"But he's under Odin's rule. Odin might determine that the natural law must be followed and Thor hasn't been on Earth all the time." Strange threw back.

"OK, so me." Tony chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. "There's a lot of things I'd change."

"I don't doubt it." Strange said.

Tony shot him a look and Strange chuckled.

"OK, hypothetically, you get sent back in time one year. Does that make a difference?" Strange asked. "Two? Three? Can you remember every decision, every action taken? Which would really make the difference? And if you change everything too much, your knowledge of the future is gone, your advantage lost." He pinned Tony with a frank stare. "Could you live through the worst experience of your life again to preserve enough of the timeline to continue? Could you stand aside and let someone you love live through a bad experience in their life?"

Tony shivered, too many bad memories competing for attention. He pushed off the stool and absently patted DUM-E.

"OK. I get it. Bad idea." Tony smirked at Strange to cover for his unease. "So. Plan B?"

Strange grinned but there was a serious glint in his eyes. "How about we make it plan Z?"

"Last resort, huh?" Tony shrugged. "Yeah, why not? Let's go with that."

 _Plan Z_

Time moves slowly as the weeks and months and years creep by, inching towards the inevitable alien invasion Loki will bring to Earth.

Tony and JARVIS continue to plot and plan. Given how unhappy Captain Secrets had been about Tony keeping the original Ultron programme from him, Tony figures he'll blow a gasket if the time travel is ever discovered.

Tony is too aware that if he changes too much, his advantage will be lost. He hadn't intended travelling back so far but it means he has to be cautious. He's long ago given up worrying about the detail of every day though. He can only remember so much, and every day that goes by his memory of the previous timeline gets woollier. He's thankful for the videos he made when he got back from Afghanistan, buried away on Tony's personal server which is only accessible to him.

And JARVIS.

Then he remembers Wanda could get into his head.

He goes to see Charles Xavier and confides in him. Charles wraps Tony's head up in psychic shields and bubble-wrap which should prevent any other telepath finding the previous timeline memories. Weirdly Xavier has had experience with time travel before and so Tony takes away Charles's whispered commitment to help him. It's a good offer. The X-Men and their villainous counterparts had helped take down a lot of the alien cannon fodder Thanos had thrown at them. It might make sense to establish a closer relationship earlier, maybe even invite a cross-team thing.

Mostly, regardless of the plotting and planning, things are the same for Tony. SI begins to dominate the technology industry and the only difference is that it also continues its domination of the weapons industry, sliding into the place Hammer had occupied.

A year after he returns from Afghanistan, Tony makes Pepper CEO with the board's approval and assumes the Head of R&D role he prefers. Tony can advance some things quicker but he's careful to try and ensure he doesn't take credit for someone else's invention or push something just too fast for the market to handle.

If Tony's progressing successfully professionally, he's also managed to put his personal life on a stable footing with Pepper. He has a moment's worry over whether using the knowledge of his past relationship with Pepper to gain an advantage is creepy – the jury is still out – and determines he can at least offset the worst offences so no strawberries or giant bunny rabbits.

This time he asks her out properly when she's a month into the CEO role. They end up talking to the HR Director and working out an agreement which provides Pepper with some assurance and protection of employment despite getting involved with him, and allays any concern the board might have.

Their relationship seems more rock solid than ever. Their first date is an art exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art and they have dinner in a nearby hole-in-the-wall restaurant he'd discovered. They talk about art and the Expo; Happy's latest girlfriend Billie and Rhodey's crush on his colleague Carol; they discuss Pepper's obsession with shoes, they disagree about the Oscar winners, and agree they both want to go to the movies like normal people and eat too much popcorn. That ends up being their second date. Somehow, it just works from there. Tony confirms their relationship in an exclusive interview with Ellen, and there's nothing but positive press.

His relationship with SHIELD also takes a different tone in the wake of the Expo and New Mexico.

He's not surprised when Coulson decides he doesn't need protection and Clint is reassigned; he figures there's a report somewhere determining his fitness for the Avengers but Fury doesn't bait him with it. Tony waves Clint off with a new custom-made bow, quiver and arrows and it's an amicable goodbye. Clint continues to drop in for drinks or dinner when they're both in New York and Tony enjoys his company; Clint is a warm, funny guy. He's decent and solid and much smarter than he had ever let onto Tony in the previous timeline. Clint's open about the fact that SHIELD are deliriously happy Tony's letting one of their agents get so close, and Tony jokes that Clint is his inside man in SHIELD. He can't quite justify calling himself Clint's friend, because Tony never forgets Clint will be taken by Loki. No matter how many times he runs the numbers he just can't see a way that lets him save Clint without placing the entire world at risk. He tries to comfort himself with the knowledge that Natasha will save Clint.

He definitely doesn't call Natasha a friend. She remains cool and perfectly professional the few times their paths cross when she accompanies Coulson. But the one time she joins Tony and Clint for dinner, she does smile at their antics with honest-to-God fondness. It's a long way from the barely hidden disapproval she had for him in their first merry-go-round so he takes what he can get.

Coulson continues to be his official liaison and Tony does consult with SHIELD on a variety of projects – body armour and the quinjets primarily, just as he had done in the previous timeline. SHIELD sends him again to talk to Ross after Harlem and he's always understood they'd wanted him to screw up the assignment.

He does it with glee and with the added bonus of riling Ross into admitting what had happened with Bruce which Tony digitally records; it'll be useful leverage later. Even then he leaves Bruce alone, despite worrying about his friend. Bruce had often spoken of how the years on the run had helped him find a way to manage his alter ego. Tony will wait to meet him.

SHIELD don't invite Tony to their Tesseract party. He notes when Selvig disappears from academia into SHIELD's employ. He also keeps track of Jane Foster, but he knows from Thor's stories that the Bifrost is broken if events have unfurled the same in Asgard, and the absence of Thor suggests they have. There's nothing Tony can do.

Tony's also not invited to the Watching Cap Sleep party. Tony checks surreptitiously around the date he knows Rogers woke up to make sure that Capsicle is defrosted. He debates for weeks whether to approach Rogers anyway – SHIELD have put Captain America up in an apartment in DC while he completes his training and re-education – but Tony can't quite make himself do it.

Tony does agonise surprisingly a lot about James Buchanan Barnes. He's not sure how he can morally justify leaving Barnes as a captive of HYDRA, brainwashed and used as a weapon – especially given his whole campaign to ensure his own weapons are no longer in the hands of terrorists. But if he reveals Barnes, he reveals HYDRA within SHIELD, and then he's in danger of losing the whole thread like Strange warned him. And it's not as though he knows how to rescue Barnes since all he knows for sure is that Alexander Pierce has him on ice somewhere.

(Tony can only just forgive himself on the basis that he cannot risk the entire timeline for Barnes and that Barnes will break free eventually).

By the time the ball drops signalling the beginning of 2012, Tony thinks he's in a good place. His reputation since Afghanistan is reformed; he has the respect of the military, Congress and the President, and most of the public. He's in good standing with the non-HYDRA parts of SHIELD. His small family is safe and well.

It's time for Loki and the alien invasion, and Tony thinks he might be ready this time.


	7. Avengers assemble

_Plan A_

Tony looked up at the old brownstone. It seemed in reasonable condition just like it's neighbouring buildings. There was a bodega on the end of the street; a park around the corner. It wasn't a bad neighbourhood, just unexpected. Or maybe not since they were in the heart of Brooklyn.

"FRIDAY," Tony frowned, "is this the right address?" He resisted the urge to re-listen to Natasha's voicemail telling him to meet her as soon as he could get free.

"Yes, Boss." FRIDAY replied through the car speakers. "Apartment 3B."

Tony sighed and turned the engine off. He got out and walked briskly over to the front door, pressing the bell for 3B.

The answering buzz and click of the door unlocking had Tony sighing. He fingered his bracelet nervously as he took a step inside. The communal hallway had a couple of bicycles locked to a radiator, and a children's buggy in front of an apartment door at the back. There was a staircase to his right which had been stripped of its paint, the wood sanded down and left unvarnished. Noting the apartments had gold stencilled number one's screwed to their doors, Tony started to make his way up.

The third floor landing had two apartments; 3B was to the back of the property. Tony walked over and knocked on the door. It opened up to reveal Natasha dressed down in jeans, hoodie and jacket.

"I'm here." Tony pointed out. "Why am I here again?"

Natasha rolled her eyes at him and ushered him in.

Tony took two steps across the threshold and froze.

"Try not to kill each other." Natasha said softly.

He was barely aware of the door closing, the click of it loud in the silence. He was too caught up in taking in his first sight of Steve Rogers since Siberia.

Steve- _Rogers_ had let his hair grow out more and it looked a shade darker, or maybe Rogers hadn't been in the sun long enough for it to keep its lighter hue; his face sported a full beard, trimmed and neat but full nevertheless. His expression was guarded. His outfit was dark; black combat pants teamed with a dark canvas jacket. He looked thinner; not gaunt but honed as though he'd been stripped back like the staircase to the grain.

Tony belatedly realised Natasha had left as he glanced around the apartment briefly. There was a kitchenette to the left; small with a minimum of cupboards, a refrigerator, and a lonely coffee pot standing empty on the side. There was a small round table with two chairs in front of the window directly in front of Tony. The rest of the space to his right was a tiny den; a three-seater couch bereft of cushions or throw sat in front of a low coffee table facing a TV screen. Two doors on the right-hand wall suggested there was at least one bedroom and a bathroom beyond but the doors were closed.

Rogers stood by the table. "Tony."

Tony reminded himself he needed to breathe and took a breath. "You got my voicemails."

"I did."

Tony stuck his hands in his pants' pockets and rocked back. "And what? You couldn't just call me back?"

Rogers looked as though he was clenching his jaw; there was a minute thinning of his lips, a glower flickering briefly in his eyes. "I had to be certain it wasn't a trick."

"Right," drawled Tony, "good thing your 'call me if you need me' thing wasn't meant for emergencies then so you can take all the time you want to check out whether there is a need or not."

Rogers flinched at that and Tony felt a momentary satisfaction for ruffling the other man's demeanour.

"You haven't exactly made use of the phone before now." Rogers pointed out. "You can't blame me for being cautious."

"There hasn't been a need before now." Tony countered.

"Really? There was no need when you were down to you and Vision…"

"And whose fault was that?" Tony interrupted him angrily. "Oh, no, wait! I forget, don't I?" He gestured angrily. "Because in your eyes, it's mine, isn't it? Because I actually followed the law and…"

"You sold our freedom…" Rogers began hotly.

"Oh, don't pretend like it was anything to do with the Accords!" Tony shouted. "All you cared about was Barnes!"

That was a direct hit.

Rogers paled and yanked his gaze away from Tony's momentarily before snapping back. "He deserves to have someone fight for him."

"No matter what the cost and who gets hurt along the way." Tony bit out.

"You were trying to kill him!"

"I'd just found out he killed my parents!"

"That wasn't Bucky!" Rogers took a step forward.

Tony held his ground. "His hand strangled my mother! His hand bashed my father's head in!" He bit out. "It was him!"

Rogers took another step forward. "He wasn't in control!"

Tony shook his head and refused to step back. "Tell me, Rogers." He said tersely. "If you had seen a video of a brainwashed _me_ killing Bucky's parents, would you be standing arguing with him about whether he had any right to be angry at me?"

Rogers flushed red.

"You know what I _know_? You'd be happily teaming up with your old pal to be angry at me because you did that exact thing with Wanda when that wasn't even my fault!" Tony said heatedly.

Rogers stayed silent, his jaw working silently as though he was fighting to hold back words.

"What's the matter there, Rogers?" Tony waved a hand at him. "Is the truth a little hard to swallow?"

Rogers glowered at him. He stabbed a finger at him and Tony felt his heartbeat rocket, the memory of Siberia and the shield coming down on him screaming in his head. "You wouldn't know the truth if it bit you! Bucky's worth more than…"

"Ten of me, right?" Tony gave a short laugh, trying hard to ignore the pain tightening his chest. "That's what you said when we met, wasn't it? Not the guy to lie down on the wire. Nothing without my suit." He glared at Rogers. "Like you're anything more than an angry little man without your shield."

Rogers reared back. "You haven't changed at all."

It was clear it wasn't a compliment.

"Neither have you." Tony retorted.

Rogers suddenly moved towards him…

Tony automatically hunched away, expecting a blow and the bracelet activated, metal snapping into place in a miniature gauntlet as he brought his hand up to defend himself…

Rogers lurched back, both hands up…shock radiated across his face.

Tony's heart was beating too fast. His arm trembled.

Rogers took another step back almost bumping into the table behind him. "Easy, Tony." He said slowly. "I wasn't…I was just…I was just going to walk past you. Leave."

Tony lowered his hand slowly and deactivated the bracelet. He breathed slowly, trying to calm his heart, the shakiness that flooded his muscles after the surge of adrenaline.

Rogers gradually brought his own hands down but stayed where he was. "I don't know how we fix this." He said eventually.

Tony sighed heavily. "I think maybe you should stop pretending we were ever friends."

Rogers flinched. "I know you don't believe me, Tony, but I _am_ your friend."

"No," said Tony firmly, "you're really not. A friend wouldn't have kept the truth about my…" he broke off, his throat closing up on the words.

"I should have told you." Rogers admitted. "There's no excuse."

Tony gave a nod of acknowledgement. Rogers was sincere; Tony could hear the regret in his voice and see it in his eyes, in the downcast incline of his head.

"For what it's worth, I do know in my head Barnes was only the weapon; he's not the person responsible for sending him after my parents." Tony said, looking away from Rogers and staring at the uncluttered kitchen counter. He wished there was a bottle of scotch on it.

"Would it have made a difference in...in Siberia?" Rogers began hesitantly. "If I had told you; would it have made a difference?"

Tony's eyes snapped back to Rogers's. "I don't know." He shrugged to lessen the bluntness of his honesty. "I just…maybe? I don't know if anything would have…I saw him strangle my Mom." Tears were too close for comfort and Tony turned away from Rogers again.

"I guess we'll never know." Rogers said softly.

Tony nodded.

There was a moment of silent understanding; of recognition that they were both looking at the wreckage of whatever friendship they'd had before.

Tony cleared his throat and took a breath. "Natasha tell you about Thanos?"

Rogers nodded. "She said he's coming here for the infinity stones?"

"And to kill us." Tony said.

"Right." Rogers said.

"We've arranged an amnesty." Tony said. "All charges will be put on hold while you help us defeat Thanos."

"And after?" pressed Rogers sharply.

"Between you and Barnes, seventeen law enforcement officers were injured in Romania. Wilson's responsible for the whiplash and impact trauma from an emergency landing the helicopter he damaged had to make. Three civilians sustained injuries because of the chase in the tunnel and subsequent collapse. It was a miracle nobody died and you're lucky T'Challa took responsibility for all the property damage." Tony stated evenly. "If you think you did the right thing, you can argue that in front of the UN panel."

Rogers swallowed hard. "I'll turn myself in but they let Sam and Bucky go free."

Tony swallowed the angry retort that sprang up and rubbed a hand over his face. He gestured at Rogers. "This discussion…this discussion here and now isn't about that. This isn't about Barnes or Wilson." He said. "It _isn't_ about _you_. There's no deal here, no quid pro quo beyond the amnesty I already had to beg them to give you. This isn't a negotiation. You said to call if you were needed. I called."

Rogers breathed in sharply and paced a couple of steps back to stare out of the window.

"You once told me we would fight this threat together." Tony said quietly. "We'd win together or we'd lose together. I agreed to keep Wanda in the Compound and I signed the Accords because I wanted to keep us together and fine, you think I tore us apart with those same actions and maybe I did. Or maybe you can admit the decisions you made did their own share of damage. But I know you know I wouldn't have called you unless I truly thought we needed you with us. Not after…" he stopped and took a deep breath. "Not after what happened. So, what's it going to be, Rogers?"

Rogers bowed his head and Tony could see the struggle in the reflection of his face in the window pane. He kept quiet and let Rogers think it out, despite his own urge to speak, to fill the silence.

Finally, Rogers turned around. "I'm in."

Relief flooded Tony so much he felt almost light-headed with it. "Good. That's…good."

Rogers pressed his lips together. "What now?"

Tony took a breath. "You can come to the Compound with me or…"

"I need to talk to Sam." Rogers said. "Make some arrangements."

"Right. Fine." Tony nodded quickly. "So…you can liaise with Natasha when you're ready. I assume you have some way of contacting her?"

Rogers gave a nod.

Tony pointed over his shoulder. "I'll just let myself out." He turned and reached for the door handle, barely a step away.

"You know, Tony, we need as many good fighters as we can get and Bucky would want to help with this. He could help."

And Rogers really couldn't help himself, Tony thought bitterly.

"Do whatever you want, Rogers." He looked back over his shoulder and smiled humourlessly. "You always do."

He was out of the door and gone before Rogers could say anything else.

 _Plan Z_

"Sir, Agent Coulson is in the lobby and requesting to see you immediately." JARVIS breaks into Tony and Pepper's video chat smoothly.

"He can wait." Pepper says. She's on the sofa in Malibu, a glass of champagne in her hands, and she's wearing one of Tony's white button-down shirts and her own old denim shorts which show off a lot of leg.

Tony grins at Pepper as he raises his own glass of champagne from the safety of the Tower workshop. He leans back in his chair. "I'm corrupting you."

"Maybe I was the one who corrupted you," Pepper waggles her eyebrows, "you just never noticed."

Tony laughs, his heart full of joyful giddiness at their banter.

"I wish I could be there with you." Pepper complains, leaning into the camera a little.

"I wish you were here too." Tony says, thinking of another timeline and Pepper in that same outfit waiting for him when he came back to the tower.

This time he's argued that for health and safety reasons to keep the tower empty of as many people as possible during the first week the tower is connected to the arc reactor. There's a skeleton security crew and that's it. The tower isn't entirely designed the same either; it already has a fantastic new medical centre taking up one of the lower floors. He's prepared for the invasion. He's so prepared he's already taken care of switching over to the arc reactor earlier in the day so he can finish up work on another Iron Man suit – he has three of them prepped.

Pepper smiles at him sweetly. "This is going to work, Tony. The tower is going to be the model for clean energy living and we're going to be able to sell it worldwide."

"You're so hot when you talk business." Tony teases.

"Sir, Agent Coulson has entered the elevator." JARVIS informs him. "He insisted this is an emergency and he needs to see you immediately."

"I'd better see what he wants, Pep." Tony says but he knows and his heart is beginning to pound.

"Stay on the line." Pepper says. "I'd like to see what's so important they have to interrupt us outside of working hours."

Tony hides his smirk. Pepper is less impressed with Coulson and SHIELD these days. He thinks he knows why: they didn't save her from Stane this time, and after what happened with Vanko and their attempt to insert Natasha, Pepper has remained decidedly cool to them although she likes Clint.

The elevator opens and right on schedule Coulson tells them about PEGASUS and Loki's arrival. Tony hides his relief that the timeline hasn't been too corrupted with the changes he's already made.

"Barton's compromised." Coulson says, and there's a tell-tale twitch which gives away just how concerned Coulson is about that. Tony knows now that Coulson and Barton are good friends under the snark and their professional relationship; had worked together for years.

"We'll get him back." Tony promises.

Coulson leaves and Tony turns back to the monitor where Pepper is waiting.

"So you have some homework to do." Pepper says wryly.

Tony touches the screen gently. "You stay safe there."

She reaches back, her fingers against his just separated by miles and miles. "You too, Tony."

"Love you." Tony says.

Pepper's eyes light up. "Love you too."

Tony holds on for another minute before he nods and JARVIS ends the call. He makes a quick call to Rhodey to inform him of the situation and to delegate notifying the oversight panel that Iron Man may be providing support in a SHIELD sanctioned mission. He signs off with Rhodey's promise to be on stand-by but Tony knows Rhodey's in the Middle East and it's unlikely the Air Force is going to release him in time to be a support.

He begins to read through the information Coulson has given him; he can't assume it's the same and really there's been too many years since he last read it to make him comfortable that he can skip the reading.

"Sir, I am detecting an anomaly directly above the tower." JARVIS informs him.

Tony looks up, alarmed. It's far too early. Within seconds he's in the suit and making for the roof of his building. He arrives just in time to see Thor land in a stream of energy before it departs and leaves the God of Thunder on his helipad.

"Thor." Tony flips open his face-plate. Thor looks older than he had done back in New Mexico, and Tony wonders how much time has passed in the other realms.

"Stark." Thor steps out of the circle, Mjölnir in his hand, his red cape billowing in the wind behind him. "You once said if I had need of a friend…"

Tony nods and holds out a hand which Thor clasps tightly. "Let's go inside. SHIELD gave me some information on Loki's arrival here. We can review it together."

The next few hours are surreal.

Tony works his way through the files.

The Avengers folder is soon put to one side.

Both Bruce's and Rogers' files are the same. Thor's file is also the same bar the mention of Tony's assessment that the hammer is a weapon and of alien origin. Barton's now has his time as Tony's protection detailed; Romanov's only link to Tony continues to be related to Vanko. Surprisingly Coulson has also provided Tony's file and it has Coulson's recommendation that Tony be offered a place in the Avengers. Tony knows Coulson did it deliberately to ensure Tony's on board.

The Tesseract data is the same but it's good to go back over the information and Selvig's careful documenting of the research. There's also an old report which hadn't been provided before which was written by Tony's Dad. It provides a hypothesis for the old HYDRA weapons and that the Tesseract was potentially more explosive than the atom bomb. There's a recommendation to do what Odin had done and lock it away somewhere secure where it could be guarded and kept safely out of man's hand. It's one of the rare moments in his life where Tony feels total pride in his old man.

Thor is surprisingly informative. He admits that the core of the Tesseract is an infinity stone, the space stone, and shares the mythology behind each of the stones. Since the Tesseract energy is related to space, Tony calls up Jane Foster for a consult. He leaves Thor talking with her as he excuses himself to touch base with Coulson, to brief Rhodey.

Tony's invited to the helicarrier earlier this time. Last time, he'd only ended up there after providing back-up to the Captain once they'd located Loki. This time he and Thor arrive on deck at the same time as Steve Rogers.

Tony ignores Rogers in favour of the nervously hovering Bruce Banner. "Tony Stark," he introduces himself, "I'm a fan of your work, Doctor Banner. Your papers on gamma radiation are unparalleled and I also enjoy how you turn into a giant green rage monster."

Bruce blinks at him but shakes his gauntlet clad hand. "Doctor Stark." He smiles slyly. "I know Iron Man is an outstanding invention but I think your thesis on the future intelligence of robotics was ground-breaking. Do you still have the bot – DUM-E was it?"

Tony smiles, happy to find his connection with Bruce so easily again. "Tony, please." He's aware that Romanov and Coulson are walking Rogers over. "And yes, DUM-E's back at my place in Malibu." He waves at Thor. "This is Thor Odinsson, prince of Asgard, God of Thunder. Thor, Doctor Banner."

"Doctor Banner." Thor clasps Bruce's hand. "My Lady Jane tells me you are among the most learned of your people and I look forward to meeting your monster."

"That's…nice. Thank you, and it's Bruce, please." Bruce glances at Tony and he reads the unspoken question in Bruce's eyes.

"Jane Foster." Tony supplies.

"The expert on the Einstein-Rosen Bridge theory?" Bruce nodded. "I read her papers on the way here. Will she be joining us?"

It's Coulson who answers. "Doctor Foster will be remaining in Europe."

"She's our phone a friend." Tony says brightly, covering his nerves as he turns toward Rogers. "Captain."

Rogers shakes his offered hand briskly. "Mister Stark."

"I thought Doctor Banner referred to you as Doctor?" asks Thor who is genuinely just bemused.

Rogers starts a stumbling apology but Tony brushes it aside with an impatient gesture.

"Don't worry, Captain." Tony says. "Mister Stark is fine, although I'd prefer Tony."

"Then I'm Steve, please." Rogers replies.

There's more introductions before Coulson and Romanov usher them into the inside of the helicarrier.

Tony turns down going with Rogers and Thor to get Loki in Stuttgart. He figures Loki will stand down after a token fight just like he did before. Instead Tony continues to work with Bruce tracing the Tesseract energy.

Everybody reconvenes in the conference room off the bridge once Loki's locked up.

"Why the iridium?" Fury asks.

"Stabilising factor for the portal." Tony states. "We talked about it this morning and made a list of places but Stuttgart was way down as a possibility." He hadn't even influenced that since Coulson had taken the list and prioritised it.

"We were focused on American locations." Coulson adds.

"So he's stabilising the portal." Steve says. "Why?"

"To use it." Maria Hill contributes.

"My father received word that Loki had been seen with the Chitauri, a warrior race. They are in a part of the galaxy ruled by the Mad Titan Thanos. Their army is vast and highly advanced." Thor confirms. "We were going to investigate when Loki appeared once more to Heimdall's sight here in Midgard."

"Why Migard?" Natasha asks.

"Because of my fondness for this realm." Thor says. "Or their attention may have been roused when you began experimenting with the Tesseract."

"If they were going to invade because of the Tesseract they would have done it already." Tony argues. "HYDRA experimented with that thing decades ago and created weapons out of it." He notes how Fury remains impassive, not even a flinch. "Nobody came knocking on the door then."

"Tony's right."

Tony almost does a double-take at Steve backing him up and he reminds himself that this isn't the Steve he knew by the time Thanos came; this is newly defrosted Steve trying to find a foothold in a new world.

"But the Tesseract's a good bargaining tool, right?" Bruce comments. "Maybe that's the prize for them working with Loki? Loki gets Earth, these Chitauri get the Tesseract."

"Perhaps." Thor concedes. "The Tesseract was once considered to be the most precious treasure in my father's vault. It may simply be a prize to them."

"Loki let himself be captured. Why?" Natasha asks.

"A diversion." Thor snarls. "To keep us from finding the Tesseract."

"He's in a cell." Fury comments. "He's hardly a diversion."

"But he's planning to be." Bruce concludes. "He's too comfortable; too in control."

"Let me talk with him." Natasha says. "See if I can figure out his game plan."

"Worth a try." Coulson says supportively.

Fury nods.

Tony goes back to the lab with Bruce. The sceptre is lying on a bench. He points at it. "We should run some tests. There has to be a way for its mind control whammy to be reversed."

They set up an isolated laptop to record the data. Tony's wary and cautious, remembering all too well how Ultron had climbed out of the mind stone in the previous timeline.

"Look at this energy reading." Bruce says as he accepts the bag of blueberries Tony offers him. "Is that similar to the Tesseract or am I going crazy?"

"Similar but not the same." Tony agrees. "I think we should get Thor in here."

Natasha suddenly bursts back into the lab. "Doctor Banner, we need to get you off the helicarrier right now."

Steve suddenly appears hoisting a weapon which he slams down onto a table. "Not before someone tells me what the hell SHIELD is doing building HYDRA weapons?!" Tony's impressed; he hasn't even hinted that SHIELD is keeping secrets and Steve has gotten suspicious anyway.

It descends into chaos.

Bruce is arguing with Natasha, and Tony is trying to referee; Fury is arguing with Thor and Steve.

A sudden beep catches their attention.

Bruce turns to his diagnostic tool. "The Tesseract is in New York…"

The explosion rips through the helicarrier right on schedule; Bruce and Natasha fall; Thor manages to save Tony from the same fate.

It's a crazy twenty minutes as Tony stabilises the helicarrier with Steve; as they fight the mercenaries Clint brings to fight them and Natasha wins Clint's mind back; as Thor loses the fight with his brother and Coulson is injured taking Loki on; as the Hulk jumps on a quinjet and disappears.

Fury stands on the bridge with Steve and Tony. "I have my best man down, Thor and Hulk are in the wind, and I have another agent bringing back the mind of the one we managed by the skin of our teeth to get back. Loki is gone and we have no Tesseract. What the else fuck do we have?"

"How is Agent Coulson?" asks Steve.

"Critical." Fury says.

"And Clint?" asks Tony.

"In the infirmary under Romanov's watch." Fury says.

Tony nods. It's easy for him to walk them back through Loki's words, back through the hints of where Loki will make his stand…

And then they're flying to New York, to his tower…

It's worse than déjà vu.

Tony tries to make it back before Loki can secure the Tesseract with the force-shield – he can't want but to save as many as he can even if JARVIS and he have calculated that the invasion needs to happen or the world will never take Tony's warning seriously.

But he's still too late…

It's good to see Clint when they pause after Bruce comes back; after the first space-whale is downed; as the Avengers come together for the first time on the ground.

The battle isn't over.

Tony has a better suit this time; he knows the enemy's flaws. He and Clint work together seamlessly; he and Thor tag team in the sky as Thor works to keep the alien army from coming through; he and Hulk smash in surprising concert. He sees in flashes how Natasha and Steve are already beginning to gel on the ground as they engage the aliens and work with the police to get civilians to safety.

And Natasha suddenly makes her move and has the sceptre…

And Hulk has smashed Loki into silence…

And the nuke flies in…

Tony takes it up to the portal. There's no guarantee he'll make it back through. He can't just trust that everything will be the same. But there's no choice. He can't let the nuke hit New York and there is only one place it can go…

It's his worst nightmare made real once more.

All there is in front of him is space.

Vast and rolling without end.

The shapes of the Chitauri army fill the emptiness; so many…so many…

He lets go.

His breath is short; he hears the drag of it; feels it knife into his lungs.

There's pain in his chest.

The arc reactor flickers.

He's falling away…

The nuke explodes against the shape of a vessel and there's a blossoming fire as something ignites…

It lights up everything…and reveals the hidden…

His breath catches in the back of his throat…

He falls.

Darkness…

His eyes flutter and close. Another time echoes through his mind...

" _STARK!"_

 _The Eye of Agamotto spins towards him._

 _He reaches out._

Electricity jolts through him.

The taste of coconut and…

Pins and needles everywhere…

Sounds of heavy breathing…an angry roar…

A gasp for air which punches through his lungs…

His eyes fly open.

Blue sky and the Hulk above him; Steve is beside him; Thor has his hand on the arc reactor. He hears Natasha demanding Clint's location and Clint's reply in his ear. They're safe.

"Did we win?" asks Tony.

And as Steve says something, Tony breathes out.

The timeline is on track.

Two days later Tony's eyes are hidden behind his sunglasses; his face scuffed and bruised from the battle still. He watches as Thor says goodbye to the rest of the Avengers who all look slightly worse for wear.

After Loki had been secured, Tony had immediately opened Stark Tower to provide temporary shelter, food, and medical care. His brand new medical centre has been put into use with Bruce spending most of his time there, assisting the doctors and nurses who have come forward to donate their time. Both Clint and Natasha had helped organise the tower around debriefing with Fury, corralling the kids and working with the adults.

Steve had gone out to help the construction crews and recovery operation earlier in the day. Tony will try and make sure Damage Control allows local companies to participate with the right security measures. It may not completely stop the likes of Adrian Toomes from going into a life of crime, but it may help alleviate the perceived unfairness of the government and SI swooping in to salvage the alien tech a little.

Tony has split his time between the tower, the recovery efforts, and stepping in to be the face of the Avengers. He's made the rounds of the various news outlets, given an exclusive interview to the New York Times, and made public statements alongside New York's Mayor, Representatives and Senators. He's had a long chat with Fury about accountability and oversight, and has already started to network with his Washington contacts. He feels like he's juggling a hundred different things, but he wasn't going to miss saying goodbye to Thor.

"I would stay and help your efforts to restore your world," Thor says to Steve, "but I must take Loki home to face justice for his crimes."

"Sooner you get Loki and that cube off our planet the better." Steve replies, his voice earnest and righteous.

There are already moments when Steve reminds Tony far too much of another timeline…he shakes the irritation away and reminds himself that this Steve hasn't yet betrayed Tony; hasn't yet beaten him up and left him in a bunker in Siberia. He knows the only way he's going to improve the future is to build a better relationship with Steve and that means he needs to treat the Steve Rogers of the previous timeline like an alternate version and gives this Steve a fair shake.

Tony smiles as Thor finally turns to him.

"Thank you, Stark." Thor clasps his arm and smiles at Tony warmly. "Asgard and I will not forget your friendship."

"Thank you for protecting Midgard, Thor." Tony says seriously. "Once you get that Bifrost up and running, don't be a stranger."

Loki glares at both of them; the muzzle he wears means he can't speak.

"I will return." Thor promises.

"You sure you don't want to take that sceptre?" Tony asks again. He really doesn't want it on Earth, but it looks like the sceptre is the consolation prize for SHIELD since Thor has taken ownership of the Tesseract.

"I must keep to the agreement." Thor says, although he's definitely amused by Tony's oft repeated attempt to get rid of the thing.

Steve jumps in before Tony can reply. "We understand."

Thor steps back and arranges himself and Loki. He raises his hammer and the Tesseract brightens…

A rainbow stream takes them away.

"Back to work?" suggests Tony.

They all follow him over to the limo. Happy opens the back door as soon as they get close.

Clint immediately heads inside with Natasha. Unlike the last time when they had already disappeared back to SHIELD, they are all staying at the tower. Clint has accepted Tony's offer first; Natasha has glued herself to Clint's side to offer support and comfort. Bruce had accepted a room too, also to avoid SHIELD. Tony thinks Steve just ended up following the crowd since Tony can feel his unease even if they've managed not to snipe at each other this time round.

It's not truly a surprise to Tony though when Steve hesitates to get in the limo.

"I think I'm going to take a walk." Steve says.

"You want company?" asks Tony because he wants to try with Steve, he really does.

Steve shakes his head. "Just need some air."

Tony nods. "We'll see you back at the tower."

Steve sketches a salute and walks away.

Tony watches him for a moment, the words of a letter he'd once received echoing in his head, words of loneliness and a feeling of not belonging…of a question Sam once posed to him…

" _Do you know how many friends Steve had when I first met him?"_

Bruce slides into the car and Tony follows, sitting beside his fellow scientist back to back with the driver partition. Clint and Natasha face him; Natasha's arm is tucked around Clint's.

"So," Tony begins as the car begins to move, "not that I'm any kind of poster boy for being, well, normal, but does anyone know if Steve is OK?"

The others look at him.

"Oh, come on." Tony says. "The guy made a suicide play and he ends up seventy years in the future in a world he doesn't understand and without friends or family." He made a spinning gesture with one hand. "Add in yesterday's alien madness and I'm surprised the guy hasn't already had some kind of mental break."

Clint and Natasha exchange a look before Clint replies.

"Point made, Tony." He sighs heavily. "God knows, the rest of us haven't been on ice for decades and we're all going to need a fuck-load of therapy."

"Yay." Tony says deadpan.

The others smile, and as they settle in for the drive and Natasha starts talking to Bruce about medical supplies, Tony thinks that maybe they'll all be better friends to each other this time.


	8. Engagement with fear

_Plan A_

"You don't have to do this." Tony repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time as he watched Rhodey carefully stand up from the wheelchair. The braces were doing their job and supporting Rhodey; he was fine. Tony wrestled with the instinctive need to help Rhodey anyway.

Rhodey took a deep breath. "I want to do this." He met Tony's eyes determinedly. "I have to do this."

"If this is because Wilson is back…"

Falcon had turned up two days earlier without Rogers who had apparently gone to see Barnes. Wilson claimed he hadn't wanted to go with Steve but Tony suspected Wilson was being used as a scout for Rogers to double-check the lay of the land before he brought Barnes back.

"It's not about Wilson." Rhodey shook his head. "He and I…we're good. You know it wasn't his fault."

"Rhodey…"

"We have an alien army coming to destroy us." Rhodey continued. "It wouldn't feel right to sit it out."

"Remote operating the suit wouldn't be sitting it out." Tony protested. "You could be like Charles."

Rhodey glared at him. "Was that a comment about my hair?"

"Nooo?" Tony waved his hands as though to dispel any suggestion of Rhodey going bald. "I said you could be like Charles who is brilliant and…"

"And in a wheelchair."

"He's a superhero!" Tony protested. "People find him sexy!"

Rhodey just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"OK, so Pepper finds him sexy." Tony admitted. "Which I don't get because he's bald and I have hair, which OK, I could shave but I did that back at MIT and it _really_ wasn't a good look for me. Also I have more money and…"

"Tony."

"I'm just saying I don't get it."

"Look, Tony, I know what you're trying to say and I appreciate it." Rhodey reached out and clasped Tony's shoulder, squeezing softly before he let go. "I know I can contribute if I stay in the chair. It's not about that. I joined the Air Force so I could _fly_. That's how I help. That how I want to help."

Tony nodded, ignoring the lump in his throat. "OK." He darted a quick look around the test area just beyond his workshop. There was a high ceiling and a skylight which could be retracted for easy egress. The new War Machine suit stood by the side of the room, waiting. "Ready?"

Rhodey rolled his shoulders and shook his head. "I'm ready."

Tony waited.

Rhodey stared at his suit.

Tony frowned.

Rhodey stared at his suit.

"You know you…"

"I know." Rhodey said sharply. "Don't rush me."

Tony held up both his hands.

Rhodey took a deep breath and thrust his arms out either side of his body. "FRIDAY, give me my suit."

The suit flew across the room, and Tony called for his own suit while Rhodey was wrapped, interlinking chain by interlinking chain, in his.

"Woah!" Rhodey squawked as the groin section went in.

Tony didn't wait, he hurried round to Rhodey's front. Both of them still had their faceplates up. "How does it feel? Anything pinching?"

"Feels good." Rhodey said breathlessly. "The braces are locked in with the suit."

"Good."

"You put some extra support in?" Rhodey asked.

"I needed to take some weight off your pelvis." Tony admitted. "Helen said to make sure you didn't overstress the plates they put in."

Rhodey pressed his lips together but he gave a nod.

"Don't forget you have a secondary power supply." Tony began. He'd reinforced the casing of the arc reactor on the chest too; it was much smaller. "It'll kick in automatically and if it's compromised…"

"I have a manually deployable parachute and airbags." Rhodey chimed in. "You already told me, Tony."

Tony bit down rather than say something back. He took a deep breath. "You ready to try flying?"

"Just up through the skylight and onto the lawn." Rhodey recited in a sing-song tone which mocked Tony. "Let's do this." He flicked his faceplate down and Tony did the same.

"FRIDAY, open the sky." Tony ordered.

"Skylight is open, Boss." FRIDAY confirmed.

"On three?" Tony suggested.

"On three." Rhodey agreed.

"Slow and steady." Tony insisted.

Rhodey sighed through the comms. "Tony…"

"One, two…" Tony readied himself, "three."

They both fired their repulsors; they rose slowly up to the ceiling and cleared the skylight together, hovering over the Compound building.

"OK?" asked Tony worried.

"I'm good, Tones." Rhodey said with a hint of wonder in his voice. "I'm good."

Tony could barely breathe. He forced himself to take a breath. "Right."

"Last one to the lawn buys dinner." Rhodey suddenly announced and took off.

Tony immediately chased after him and they both landed within seconds of each other.

Tony took off his faceplate and hurried over to Rhodey.

Rhodey took down his own faceplate and grinned at him. "You're buying dinner."

Tony rolled his eyes. "I landed at the same time as you!"

"FRIDAY?" asked Rhodey.

"Colonel Rhodes landed nought point two seconds before you, Boss."

"AHA! You're buying dinner and you're going to take me to Guzzle-Jug." Rhodey teased him. "And you're going to eat their pasta."

Tony pointed at him. "That wasn't the bet and you're not getting me into Guzzle-Jug or buying dinner there and we're certainly not eating their pasta! That isn't pasta, it doesn't deserve the name pasta and…" he trailed off as Rhodey just kept grinning back at him smugly.

"Fine." Tony said. "You flew. You're fine." His breath caught on the last word.

Rhodey awkwardly pulled him in for a hug which was difficult given they were both wearing armour. He reached over and smacked a kiss on Tony's forehead before pulling back just enough to keep hold of Tony's gaze with a fierce one of his own.

"It wasn't your fault, Tony. I fell and you couldn't save me just like Pepper fell that time and you couldn't save her. But just like Pepper, I got up. I'm going to keep getting up." His dark eyes searched Tony's until Tony nodded.

Tony opened his mouth to say something and Rhodey shot him a look.

"Don't make this weird."

They both slowly realised there was clapping off to the side. They turned their heads in unison to find Pepper and Happy at the edge of the lawn where the grass met the driveway.

Pepper walked over swiftly as soon as they turned to them, Happy following slowly in her wake. She hugged Rhodey enthusiastically before stepping back and wrapping her arms around one of Tony's.

"It's good to see you back in the suit." Pepper said.

"It's good to be back." Rhodey accepted Happy's congratulatory handshake before he turned back to grin at Pepper. His eyes widened suddenly. "You're wearing an engagement ring?!" He slapped Tony's chest. "Why didn't you tell me you proposed?!"

"I didn't!" Tony said before staring at Pepper's hand where his ring sat around her finger. "I mean…I had a whole thing planned!" He stared at her with confusion tinged with euphoria; she was wearing the ring!

Pepper rolled her eyes at him and replied to Rhodey. "Happy had the ring. I decided to save us the over-the-top proposal – and don't even try to claim it wouldn't have been, Tony…"

Tony's mouth snapped shut.

"…and I asked Happy to give me the ring."

Rhodey started to snicker.

"Just for the record I think the one hundred heart balloons would have been awesome." Tony said without heat, before he lifted Pepper's hand and gently kissed her ring finger. "Really?"

"Really." Pepper beamed back at him.

"Dibs on best man!" Rhodey shouted.

Happy glowered at him. "No. No dibs on best man. You want to take this to the boxing ring, Rhodes?"

Tony tuned them out and focused on Pepper. "How did you find out about the…"

"I overheard Vision asking you about the hundred-piece orchestra." Pepper said firmly.

"And you really want to…"

"I really want to." She leaned into him and kissed him.

Tony smiled back at her goofily. "How about we get married at The White House? Rhodey might know a guy…"

"How about we keep the appointment I just made with Judge Kennedy in his chambers on Monday?" Pepper replied.

"We can do that." Tony kissed her again.

"I still say it looks like two seals fighting over a grape." Rhodey commented.

Tony and Pepper broke apart and turned to glare in unison at a smiling Rhodey.

"You should get your own lawn." Tony shot straight back.

"I was here first." Rhodey said. "Literally. Here first."

"Uh," Happy waved his phone, "the kid's got trouble. Something about his friend Ned being stuck in a bank robbery?"

"I got this." Rhodey flipped his faceplate down and shot upwards.

"Is he really OK?" asked Pepper worriedly as they watched the tiny figure disappear into the blue sky.

Tony shrugged and told himself not to worry. There was the secondary power source. The parachute. Airbags. Maybe he should have…

"Tony?" Pepper prompted.

Tony gave her hand a squeeze. "He'll be fine. He won't miss the chance to give me away."

Because in or out of the suit, Colonel James Rhodes would always be Tony's Rhodey.

 _Plan Z_

Tony's not surprised when the nightmares come again after New York. He does the right thing and takes himself off to therapy with an actual therapist. He can't tell her about the future but he can talk to her of the wormhole, of falling, of his fear that he won't do enough, be enough. He gets medication for the anxiety attacks but he ignores the pills and tries other techniques to keep himself from falling into the hole caused by his PTSD.

The Avengers Initiative helps.

It's different to how it was before and Tony has another panic attack about _that_ for a day until accepting that different isn't bad.

The first difference is oversight. Washington comes calling, Congressional investigations by both the House and the Senate. They come to him when SHIELD stonewalls them. Fury admits his first instinct is to make it all go away (and Tony suspects he did make it go away in the first timeline) but Tony's counterargument of accountability and public support hold sway, especially when he points out he'll have to report to his own DOD oversight committee regardless.

Nobody in the team likes testifying but Tony and Coulson, as the SHIELD representative, step in as the lead spokespeople and somehow the investigations end with grateful thanks and an acknowledgement that the alien threat may come again. A proposal goes to the UN for an international effort to begin addressing alien interactions and diplomacy, defences against alien attack and emergency responses. Tony is approached to consult and happily agrees. He doesn't know if the UN Department of Earth Security and Defence will truly help but it's so much better than the lack of anything he'd seen previously.

The second major difference is that the team continues to stay in touch with each other. With his commitment to therapy, Tony stays to help with the recovery efforts in New York whereas he'd retreated to Malibu previously. Between dealing with Washington, the UN and his own Iron Man missions, it makes sense to stay on the Eastern seaboard. Since he'd already spent months commuting between Malibu and New York because of the tower and the Expos it's not even a significant change, and Pepper supports him.

Bruce seems completely content to use the tower as a base in a way he hadn't before. He agrees to SI funding his research on a number of humanitarian projects and begins to rebuild his academic and scientific contacts. There's a tearful reunion with past love Betty Ross who just turns up at the tower one day, but ultimately the two settle for being friends.

Clint resigns from SHIELD, confessing to Tony that he's just too uncomfortable to stay in the wake of being Loki's puppet and leading an attack on his own colleagues. Tony spends a half a second wondering if Clint had felt the same way in the first timeline, but had chosen to stick it out with SHIELD anyway, before he snaps him up. He puts him in charge of security for the tower and asks him to resume his previous undercover position as his driver and bodyguard – Happy takes the role of Head of SI Security at the Malibu offices and watching over Pepper.

Tony agrees to Clint having every other weekend off and he assumes Clint's heading back to the farm. He's very surprised when three months after taking the job, Clint confides about his family and makes a request for them to move to the tower. They move in with little fanfare and within days Laura Barton is acknowledged as their new benevolent ruler. Tony's amused when even Pepper ends up building a friendship with Natasha thanks to the no-nonsense presence of Laura acting as a go-between.

Natasha stays with SHIELD and she heads back to DC headquarters. When Coulson is tasked with creating a mobile unit of agents to get on top of the ever-increasing reports of strange things emerging, Natasha steps in as Tony's liaison to SHIELD. It means she drops by every couple of weeks and when she does, she'll stay for dinner, for drinks or just to catch up with Clint. When Clint's family move in, most weekends when she's not on a mission, she's in the tower being Aunty Nat. Natasha is also the one who drags Steve to the tower.

Steve had gone ahead and formally joined SHIELD in the wake of the attack and he's based out of DC. Tony makes sure he's in DC enough to corral Natasha and Steve for dinner or lunch once a month in addition to their tower visits. He manages to point Steve in the direction of the VA way ahead of when Steve met Sam previously and he's pleased when Steve starts to talk about the support group and Sam. Steve begins to relax around the team when he does visit the tower, and his dry sense of humour starts to show through as he catches up on pop culture and the new world he finds himself occupying.

The only absent member is Thor but Jane stays in contact and all in all, Tony feels comfortable that his hope that the Avengers would be better friends has come true.

He's so busy between the Avengers, Iron Man missions, SI and continuing his long distant relationship with Pepper that he almost completely forgets about the Mandarin until Pepper tells him on their evening video call that she's meeting Killian the next day.

Tony finishes the call and panics.

Then he panics some more.

Then JARVIS steps in.

Firstly, in the early hours of the California morning, Pepper and Happy receive the news Tony has been injured in an explosion, (JARVIS 'accidentally' explodes a suit in the workshop; handily Tony doesn't have to fake the concussion since he really gets thrown into a wall). They immediately head to New York, neatly cancelling Pepper's appointment with Killian. The explosion of his own suit provides Tony the excuse to give Rhodey a new suit, which handily has never been anywhere near AIM, while he 'checks' the old one isn't also going to explode (which it does when Tony destroys it to ensure AIM can't remotely do anything with it).

An anonymous tip (JARVIS is on a roll) to the Secret Service reveals Killian's plans; the Mandarin, the conspiracy with the Vice President to kill the President, and the human exploding experiments. Rhodey steps up, and he and a team of SEALs bring down Killian and destroy his human bombs.

Christmas arrives and Rhodey's hailed as a national hero, Happy is not in a hospital bed, Pepper isn't fighting the effects of Extremis, his Malibu mansion is not rubble and Killian is very, very dead.

Tony really, really loves JARVIS.

The only negative is that Tony doesn't get to meet Harley Keener. Meeting Harley might be easily fixable on paper; Tony knows he could make up an excuse to stop by Rose Hill and meet the young boy who'd helped him the last time round with the Mandarin, but he also knows it won't be the same. He and Harley won't ever share the experience which bonded them a timeline ago. He quietly arranges to provide educational funds for Harley and his sister under the guise of some long-lost relative dying and leaving them an unexpected windfall.

And truthfully Harley isn't the only negative.

Killian had killed Maya Hansen so her work is unfinished. Tony doesn't have access to the data or Pepper as a source to enable comparison and fixes. He thinks he could replicate it given enough time and effort but it's difficult when the only reason he has to do so is to get rid of the arc reactor in his chest. Or maybe that's a good enough reason.

He's not sure enough to risk it.

As Pepper kisses him at the turn of the New Year and accepts the engagement ring he offers her; as Rhodey toasts to their future happiness...Tony figures he and the future are surviving their second merry-go-round just fine.


	9. Night skies

_Plan A_

Tony walked out onto the roof of the Compound's residential building and slowly made his way over to Thor. The god sat staring up at the night sky. Tony sat down beside him.

"So, not that the roof isn't great – it's a good roof, built it myself – but why are you out here again?" Tony pressed.

"Jane often looks at the night sky to calm her spirit after a difficult day." Thor said softly. "Although we are no longer together, I often find comfort in doing the same."

"Is this about the argument you had with Hill about your friends?" asked Tony. He shrugged when Thor turned to look at him darkly. "Neither of you were exactly speaking with inside voices."

Thor grimaced and turned away.

"You know she didn't mean it." Tony said.

Thor sighed. "Her words might have been in anger but there was truth in what she said." He motioned at Tony. "Did Fury not say that my arrival prompted them to investigate the power within the Tesseract? My youthful folly led to this war."

"Eh," Tony shrugged, "Thanos would have come for us sooner or later. We might not have known it but Earth had two of the infinity stones even back then." He nudged Thor. "Better we face it with you as an ally than without you."

"We must all stop Thanos or all our realms will be lost to him." Thor agreed. His frame relaxed as though accepting Tony's words before he gave another heavy sigh. "I worry what has become of my people." He paused. "Of Banner and my brother." He sighed heavily. "The Guardians brought no news of Asgard."

"Maybe no news is good news." Tony offered. "You exchanged your life for theirs, Thor. Perhaps Thanos kept to his word."

"Perhaps."

But the word was filled with doubt and Tony couldn't argue with that. Thor had offered his life for his people's but there was only a slim chance Thanos had left the Asgardians alive given the space stone was buried in the ruins of their realm.

They fell silent as they looked up to the stars again.

"Well, regardless of Hill objecting to the short notice – and by short notice I really mean, no notice which is why she freaked out about an alien space ship landing on the lawn by the way – your friends are all settled into quarters." Tony said eventually. "Nice bunch. Weird but nice."

"Perhaps they would say the same of you." Thor commented with a short laugh.

"One of them is a talking raccoon." Tony said dryly. He could almost accept that though since Rocket was clearly the recipient of some horrific experiment. He was mostly disbelieving about the talking tree. Sure, it didn't say much but it still talked.

"The Guardians have good hearts." Thor reached out and clasped Tony's shoulder, his gaze warm as he met Tony's eyes. "As do you, my friend."

 _Plan Z_

Having almost forgotten about the Mandarin, Tony takes himself off for a day to an undisclosed location where he and JARVIS spend the entire time reviewing the video-tapes. He knows that things are beginning to change beyond his own timeline – his relationship with the Avengers, his own engagement to Pepper, the oversight they're already under and the UN's international alien department more than give that away. But he needs to check what might still crawl out of the woodwork.

With the previous timeline refreshed, he and JARVIS delete the video tapes. They're too dangerous to keep and Tony knows revealing the previous timeline is only going to create discord in the Avengers. He knows Natasha wasn't wrong when she'd said Steve wasn't rational about Barnes, but they all have their pressure points.

It's a difficult line to walk. How much he interferes, how much he keeps the same because he can't allow the future to change too much or the opportunity is lost. He heads back to the tower the next day and as he proof-reads Bruce's latest article on genetically modified wheat, gets manipulated into a board game with the Barton children and their Aunty Nat, takes a call from Steve asking if he can bring Sam by, and has dinner with Pepper and a visiting Rhodey…Tony can't regret his choices so far.

He definitely doesn't regret it months later when he doesn't have to manufacture a reason to go to London because Jane Foster calls him and asks for his help with a manic Eric Selvig.

Tony feels somewhat ashamed that he hadn't considered the man's health or situation in either timeline. Selvig had been under Loki's control just as Clint; had spent days and weeks working with an infinity stone, being influenced by the stone.

Clint is quiet as they enter The George and Dragon pub. Selvig is immediately obvious; sat at the bar downing what looks like shots of vodka. He's slovenly dressed in sneakers, baggy sweatpants which are dirty and stained; an old t-shirt in a similar condition. His hair is askew; there's a day's worth of stubble on his face and his eyes show the glaze of the well-medicated.

Tony slides onto the stool next to him. "Doctor Selvig."

Selvig looks at him unblinkingly for a long moment before his eyes dart to Clint and back again. "Stark."

Tony points at the Guinness pump handle and orders himself and Clint a pint of the tasty black stuff.

"Jane called you." Selvig states with a scowl.

"She's worried about you." Tony says bluntly.

"She doesn't need to be." Selvig says. "She's called you for nothing."

Tony hums and raises the glass of Guinness. The pint is just as he remembers it. "That's good." He sets the glass back down on the bar and turns to Selvig. "Tell me about these energy readings you want Jane's help with."

Selvig looks at him for a long moment and sighs. "There is a record in Norse mythology of a cataclysm every five thousand years. A time when the Nine Realms are in perfect alignment." He positions two empty shot glasses, one on top of the other separated by a coaster. "When that happens," he slides the coaster out and the top glass crashes into the one below, "space between the Realms becomes merged. Gravitational forces, time, space…all of it crashes and tears apart the very fabric of our reality. They call it the Convergence and when the alignment finishes the realms are separated but changed forever."

"That would be bad." Tony says calmly.

Clint snorts.

"My time with the Tesseract…" Selvig whispers, "she showed me the way to understand what will happen and what we can do to prevent it."

"That would be good." Tony replies. "And the plan is?"

"I have constructed gravimetric spikes. They stabilise the focal point of the Convergence providing us with the shield against the other realms." Selvig notes.

"So where's the focal point?" asks Clint.

Tony nods and points at Selvig. "Good question."

"I must go to Stonehenge tomorrow and take more readings, these ancient structures were created to tell us this information." Selvig informs them briskly. "Jane and Darcy can monitor things here in London."

Tony frowns. He seems to remember that Jane monitoring things in London had led to her getting possessed by an infinity stone and Thor making off with her to Asgard for a cure. He rubs his head. "OK. We need to inform the new UN department of what's going on."

Selvig rears back. "You believe me?"

"Why wouldn't I?" asks Tony.

Selvig casts a dirty look toward Clint. "SHIELD told me I was hallucinating and to take my medications."

"I left." Clint states dryly.

Selvig blinks at Clint and nods. "Good for you, Hawk."

"Well, SHIELD may have dropped the ball and maybe you are as, what was the term Jane's intern used? Banana-balls?" Tony waves his hand. "Too many balls. Anyway, we're picking this ball up."

"Even if it is a banana-ball." Clint slides in innocently.

Tony can't quite hide the twitch of his lips but Selvig laughs before he sobers and holds Tony's gaze. "Thank you."

It's not difficult with Tony's connections to have the UN Head of the Department of Earth Security and Defence, Doctor Hanna Gunther, to sign off on the Avengers, (with assistance from Selvig, Foster and her interns), investigating Selvig's claims and acting to protect the world. Tony leaves her to make the notifications to the British government and he's not truly surprised when a team from Her Majesty's Secret Service turn up the next morning to provide back-up and liaison with police and the British military.

Within hours, Tony has a digital map of energy readings around London showing odd gravitational and spatial patches. Bruce arrives to help him make sense of it but right on cue despite their warnings to be careful, Jane steps in-between worlds.

She disappears for over five hours. When she arrives back to their concerned faces, Thor beams down in a show of rainbow light within minutes.

"Friends!" Thor greets them brightly even though most of his attention is affixed to Jane who has just slapped him. They're standing in a puddle of unnatural dryness while the rain cascades down around them.

"Welcome back." Tony clasps Thor's arm with a gauntlet-covered hand. "Good to see again."

"It is good to be seen." Thor replies, eyes still on Jane. "You disappeared from Heimdall's sight."

"I…I was somewhere else and then…I…" Jane shrugs. "Where have you been?"

"The Realms descended into war," Thor says, reaching out to cup her face, "and it was my duty to make the Realms safe before I could return to Midgard."

"Sorry to interrupt the reunion here, but anybody else noticing the localised anomaly with the rain?" Bruce asks, holding his coat up above his head.

Clint nods. "I'm noticing."

"Me too." Darcy's arm shoots up.

"Yes?" asks Darcy's intern.

"Jane," Selvig reaches out for her but as he touches her arm, there's a blast of energy from her body which sends them flying.

Bruce manages to hold it together; his eyes turning bright green.

Clint and Tony pick themselves up in time to see Thor clasp an unconscious Jane to his chest and disappear again.

"Anyone else hating the disappearing act?" asks Tony with a groan.

"Count me in." Clint says ignoring his own road rash to check on Selvig who's out cold.

"Me too." Darcy says.

A day later, Thor arrives back with Jane and a tale of a malevolent elf who is on his way with the Aether in order to tear down the known universe. It's a mad rush to finish the gravimetric spike implementation in Greenwich; to coordinate an evacuation of the locals. Somehow Tony finds himself providing support for the Royal Air Force as they work on damaging the alien ship. Bruce backs up Thor on the ground, with Clint providing Jane, Selvig and the interns cover as they finish getting the spikes in place.

They've just started to use the spikes to turn the anomalies to their favour when Tony hears a voice over the comms…

"Miss us?" asks Natasha who somehow vaults over a car to take out two elves closing in on Clint.

A second later, a familiar shield slams into an elf and sends him into another realm. "Sorry we're late."

"Better late than never." Tony quips.

Fifteen minutes later, it's over. Thor has defeated malevolent elf, Selvig has sent the ship somewhere else, and the Convergence has passed.

Two SAS soldiers are injured along with a fairly battered Thor but there are no fatalities. There is a fair amount of property damage and Hulk is cuddling an ice monster like its a teddy bear. The ice monster gives an eep.

"Cute." Clint says.

Selvig approaches and holds out his hand. "Thank you for believing me."

Tony nods. "Thank you for being right."

"Anybody else concerned how three powerful objects have just turned up all capable for influencing us beyond our control in the last couple of years?" asks Darcy bluntly.

All of their hands shoot up except for Hulk who continues petting the ice-monster and Thor who nods and gently kisses Jane before looking around their huddled group.

"I must return to Asgard and face Odin's judgement." Thor says. "I will seek his advice on these matters."

Jane makes a wordless protest but Thor kisses her again and steps away. He leaves in another show of rainbow light and Jane is left looking up at the sky.

Tony looks at the ruined pavement with its newly scorched circle of runes and sighs. "I'm going to end up paying for that."

Clean-up takes a while, especially as its complicated by having to negotiate a surprise addition of an ice monster to London Zoo but Tony is back in the States when Thor shows up at the tower.

Tony finds him on the roof looking up at the stars.

They stand together for a long moment.

"My mother gave her life to save Jane's," Thor says sadly, "I already miss her counsel and her…" he breaks off roughly.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Thor." Tony says sincerely.

"How do you live with this pain?" asks Thor.

"I was a mess at first." Tony confesses. "Booze, drugs – although I gave that up after the incident with the gasoline and, never mind," he gestures at Thor, "it's…it still hurts. Every day. Maybe it isn't the sting of a new wound anymore, just an ache but...I still miss her. She was my Mom."

Thor nods. "Loki was devastated, I thought our shared pain could build a bridge between us, but now my brother is lost to me once again."

Tony nods even though he knows Loki is still alive. He thinks Thor may even suspect a little.

Thor sighs. "My father has tasked me with defending Midgard to pay for my crime against Asgard. I do not know where to start."

"You're an Avenger." Tony states simply. "Start there." He waves a hand. "I mean, here." He pushes a hand back towards the tower. "You have a place here. With us."

Thor turns to look at him intently. "Then I renew my pledge to stand with you, Man of Iron, against all who would threaten this world."

"Offer accepted." Tony says seriously.

There's a pause, a beat.

Tony shakes away the solemnity. "You want to come inside? Bruce made curry, it's even edible."

Thor nods and casts one last look up at the sky before taking a step toward him and the warmth of the tower which beckons. "Thank you, my friend."


	10. Inside knowledge

_Plan A_

"Clint said you needed me?" Sam Wilson stood in the doorway of Tony's lab, cross-armed and impassive.

Tony waved him in. "I need to fit your new wings." He gestures at the prototype on the far table and they both head over.

Wilson strapped into the harness and Tony left him to adjust the fit. "Wilson, wings out full. FRIDAY, scan the wingspan."

"They feel lighter." Wilson commented.

"T'Challa contributed some vibranium to mix into the alloy." Tony informed him briskly. "Close in on the back."

Wilson followed the instruction and Tony did a circuit to check the wingtips cleared the floor.

"Sweep round to the front." Tony nodded as they made a clean movement. "FRIDAY?"

"Wings require no further adjustment and are matching specification, Boss."

"Wilson?" asked Tony.

Wilson did a few more physical movements. "So far so good. I'll know better when I get them in the air."

"Go ahead then. Just make sure you have a spotter." Tony returned to his desk and started noting the pass rate on the tests. "FRIDAY, I think we can still adjust the power to flight altitude ratio. Tweak this…" he tapped one of the components in the flight power module, "…to this." He slid his hand along.

"Won't that lose speed in more complicated movements?"

Tony's heartbeat rocketed and he spun around trying to hide his startled flinch at Wilson's presence. "Weren't you going out to play?"

"You know I like knowing the mechanics of the wings." Wilson said mildly.

Tony frowned. Wilson had always hung around when there had been maintenance or updates on the wings and he had asked a lot of questions. "Huh. I thought you just didn't trust me."

Wilson grimaced. "I realise…" he sighed and his dark eyes met Tony's determinedly, "I owe you an apology."

"Forget it." Tony said shortly. "Let's just…forget it." He tapped the holographic folder. "Send that to the shared server, FRIDAY, and give Wilson access."

"See, no." Wilson said. "That whole brush it under the rug routine isn't going to work for me."

"And it's all about you, right?" Tony commented, turning around to face him again. He leaned back against the desk and waved at him. "Look, Rhodey already told me you two hugged it out so…"

"This isn't about the Colonel." Wilson said. "It's about Steve."

And Wilson had a stubborn look which Tony figured he'd actually copied it from Captain America himself.

"Go ahead then; say your piece."

Wilson's lips twisted and Tony figured he was swallowing down what he really wanted to retort. "Do you know how many friends Steve had when I met him?"

Tony raised his eyebrows. "You did meet him in the middle of his finding out SHIELD had a small HYDRA problem so I'm not sure that's a fair question."

"None." Wilson replied. "He had no real friends. All you Avengers went your own way after New York. Natasha was _friendly_ and I think she wanted to be Steve's friend back then but truthfully? She was his babysitter until the whole SHIELD shebang fell apart. Fury was his boss, and everyone else? His neighbour turned out to be SHIELD and all the people he worked with knowingly at SHIELD, they were OK for a drink after work, but he hadn't become friends with anyone he could confide in."

"Your point?" Tony said.

"I figured Steve needed someone completely in his corner." Wilson sighed. "Which meant I followed his lead a little too much on some things, you being one of them."

Tony stared at him not entirely certain what Wilson meant.

Wilson's lips twisted. "It was obvious when he introduced us that he wasn't completely comfortable with you. I figured initially maybe it was because you reminded him of your Dad."

Tony had thought the same, and he remembered trying not to be upset by that; to work through it with Rogers so they had their own friendship.

"But then when I stayed at the tower, I realised that he was happy to socialise with you when it was a group thing, not so much if it looked like it was just the two of you." Wilson continued. "So I thought maybe he just saw you as team-mates. He trusted you well enough in the field." He shrugged and the wings whirred. "I thought he just maybe didn't trust you on a personal level to be friends with you in the same way he'd make time for some of the others."

Tony gave a short laugh. "You saw more than me. I thought we were friends." He said bluntly. Maybe not close friends but friends.

Sam sighed. "I assumed he had a good reason for not letting you in which I incorrectly supposed was something about _you_. He had plenty of complaints to bitch about every time we caught up and I had a hundred and one reasons why he might have decided you weren't friend material."

"Well, this has been a barrel of laughs." Tony snapped out sharply. "Are we done? I think we're done."

"I didn't realise he was keeping you at a distance because he knew about your parents and didn't want, and didn't _know_ how to tell you." Wilson said.

Tony froze.

"He told me everything when he got us out the RAFT." Wilson said. "I am sorry you had to go through that."

"Not going to yell at me for attacking Barnes when I found out?" asked Tony brusquely.

Wilson shook his head. "You were traumatised by the video and emotionally compromised. You had no time to process your anger or your grief at the revelation about their deaths and Steve's knowledge of it all." He sighed heavily. "Since Steve has always been too invested in protecting Barnes, and God knows Barnes himself is a mess, it's no surprise to me it devolved into a fight."

Tony nodded jerkily.

"Anyway," Wilson said, "I should have gotten to know you rather than judging you on Steve's interaction with you, media rumours and gossip, and what happened with Ultron, which I've also come to realise I made a shit ton of assumptions about after talking with Thor and Vis." He sighed. "I was wrong about you. Maybe if I hadn't been so focused on being so much in Steve's corner…but I can't say I would change that. Steve still doesn't have too many friends."

"Thank you for the explanation, I guess." Tony said. He wasn't sure how to feel since Wilson's apology had been lost somewhere in his admission he wouldn't change anything really.

They looked at each other awkwardly.

Tony gestured at the wings. "You should really go and try those out."

Wilson nodded and moved out.

"Stark?"

Tony turned and looked over at Wilson who had paused in the open doorway.

"Steve would be lucky to have you as a friend."

He disappeared leaving Tony alone in the lab wondering just how much the secret about his parents had influenced Steve and his actions; how much that in turn had influenced everything that had followed after SHIELD fell and everyone else. Maybe he'd never know for certain whether if Steve had told him, it would have changed everything.

 _Plan Z_

As May ticks over into June without the fall of SHIELD, Tony begins to worry that his changes to the timeline have had a major impact after all.

He knows the lack of reveal is bad. He cannot allow HYDRA to continue operating within SHIELD. It's taken all he has to wait for the moment in the timeline when he knew it would happen. A lot of the simulations he'd run back at the beginning had been taking HYDRA and SHIELD down early. But without SHIELD in the mix, too many other things had been predicted to fail or not happen or just go badly wrong in a way which would have only benefitted Thanos – and he couldn't take the risk.

Not then.

But as the first weekend in June passes still without any sign of the reveal happening, Tony gets up early Monday morning to begin plotting out how he can get it to happen since it looks like the timeline changes have somehow conspired to keep HYDRA hidden longer.

He's a moment away from kicking Clint out of his workshop and locking it to start planning in earnest when JARVIS announces Coulson is video calling him from Lola – the only car which his Dad managed to get to fly.

Tony drops into his chair and orders JARVIS to put Coulson on the main monitor. Clint takes up a position just behind him to his left. "Agent. You don't write, you don't call…"

"This is an emergency." Coulson cuts in. "I need your help." His eyes flicker to Clint. "And yours, Barton."

Tony and Clint exchange a quick look of concern.

Tony turns back to the monitor, leans forward and nods. "Go ahead."

Coulson looks momentarily lost as though he doesn't know where to start. "I'm going to tell you something but I need you to be patient and listen."

Tony nods again. Clint remains silent and still.

"Stane was killed by an agent called John Garrett." Coulson says bluntly. "He'd covered it up well but when we dug we found the deleted footage. He passed the belt to Stane with the words 'Hail Hydra.'"

Tony's eyes widen and he feels the blow against his soul as though Coulson punched him in the gut. "Stane was HYDRA?"

"We don't know for certain." Coulson says. "He might have just been their weapons supplier beyond what they could get out of the SHIELD armouries. We didn't find any evidence other than payments."

It makes Tony nauseous to think that Stane was selling his weapons to HYDRA.

"And Garrett?" asks Clint harshly.

Coulson looks regretful. "He's definitely HYDRA. The Director and I immediately began a top secret investigation into how HYDRA had implanted a double agent in our midst and…" he sighs, "we found we had a cancer at the heart of SHIELD."

Tony frowns, tuning out Clint swearing under his breath. "How bad? Are we talking a small tumour or…"

"Practically our whole organisation is infected in some way." Coulson cuts in. "We traced the origin to the foundation of SHIELD itself. It's not a secret that America swept up a number of German scientists in the wake of the war."

"Operation Paperclip." Tony supplies.

"Right," Coulson confirms, "their war crimes were either pardoned in return for service or in some cases whitewashed away."

"And some of those scientists ended up in SHIELD." Tony states tersely.

"Closely monitored at the beginning, but as they settled in and produced good work…" Coulson sighs, "the level of scrutiny on their work, on their lives, diminished. They were able to recruit and multiply." He pauses. "Fury and I believe just over a third of SHIELD operational staff are compromised, forty percent of our agents, and just under fifty per cent of our scientists. We know the World Security Council has been compromised; Pierce is HYDRA."

"Fuck." Clint murmurs.

Tony turns to glance at him, Clint is pale with eyes glazed with shock. He nudges him onto a stool before turning back to Coulson.

"You say you and Fury have been investigating since Stane died, why are you telling us this now?" asks Tony brusquely.

"We've been monitoring the situation," Coulson says briskly, "and gathering proof. We needed more than conjecture and a few coincidences that could be easily brushed away." He sighs again and for a moment his weariness shines through. "And we've needed to do it without alarming HYDRA into acting against us."

"Your mobile team." Clint states. "Part of the plan?"

Coulson nods. "Fury wanted a team on the periphery. A plan B."

"That's not all though, is it?" asks Clint before Tony can. Tony wonders if he's seen the same hesitation in Coulson's eyes.

"One of my team is HYDRA." Coulson says bluntly.

Clint nods as though that makes perfect sense to him. "You were hoping to flip him."

"Yes," Coulson says, "but Fury underestimated his loyalty to Garrett."

"Is this relevant?" asks Tony abruptly. "I notice you still haven't answered my question."

"You know about the new fleet of helicarriers?" Coulson checks.

Tony nods. He'd given the go ahead to use his repulsor technology for the flight capability, while designing fail-safes that ensured they couldn't be weaponised, just as he had in the first timeline.

"The WSC also proposed some additions to their design. The helicarriers are built with long range precision guns, synched up with satellites which can be used to target hostiles using a computer algorithm which would seek out and identify the threats." Coulson explains. "Project Insight."

"Sounds like it skirts a little close to black bag operations on a large scale." Tony mutters, tapping his fingers unhappily against his arc reactor.

"A month ago, the Director realised that the project had been compromised by HYDRA. They intend to use it to cleanse the world of anyone who would stand against them." Coulson tells them. "Fury had suspicions that a HYDRA cell was operating out of a SHIELD ship named The Lumerian Star. There was a plan to retrieve the data in the ship's computers but the ship blew up before the data could be retrieved."

Clint leans forward. "Steve and Nat were supposed to be on that mission, right? She called to say they wouldn't make it for dinner because of a rescue mission to free one of SHIELD's ships from pirates but then turned up when the mission fell through."

Coulson doesn't look happy at the realisation Nat still tells Clint about her missions, but he nods. "The Director managed to delay the helicarriers through some creative sabotage while we regrouped." He pauses before his eyes look directly at Tony's. "The day before yesterday, the salvage operation for The Lumerian Star recovered the main onboard computer server. It was intact."

Tony feels a chill skitter down his spine.

"Fury had Captain America and Black Widow fly out to take custody of it. Yesterday afternoon, Fury's car was attacked on his way to a meeting at the Pentagon by an assassin we know as The Winter Soldier, and he's missing." Coulson pauses. "Cap and Widow are also missing; they didn't come back from the mission as scheduled last night."

Clint is almost vibrating with tension beside him and Tony can't blame him.

"An hour ago, Pierce declared himself as interim Director and sent a memo stating they are all wanted for questioning; he's issued arrest warrants."

"You think HYDRA are making their play." Tony states. "Will Fury reach out to you?"

Coulson shakes his head. "Unlikely. He knows about Ward."

"I'll check some things." Clint offers grimly. "Nat may have contacted me."

Tony lets him go and turns back to Coulson. "What do you need me to do?"

"Their end game has to be Insight. It's due to launch tomorrow. Can you stop the helicarriers or the targeting system?" Coulson asks.

Tony nods. "I'm assuming you don't want this brought to the attention of the authorities?"

"Your DOD oversight panel is clean as far as we know but we're less certain about the Congressional committees." Coulson says. "Fury said Doctor Gunther was clean but he couldn't vouch for her staff."

"Then I'll inform Rhodey and Gunther directly that I'm dealing with a highly confidential and time sensitive intelligence of a threat which requires me to do some white hat hacking into SHIELD." Tony shrugs. "I'll ask Gunther to keep it officially off the books until I can verify the threat."

"Good." Coulson holds his gaze. "I don't know if I'll be able to make contact again but good luck, Stark."

"You too." Tony says.

It's just after lunch.

Clint has heard nothing from Nat but he's left coded messages of his own for her. JARVIS has confirmed that Camp Lehigh is already scorched earth and Tony can only hope Steve and Nat survived it like they did before. He has JARVIS watching for any sign on traffic cameras or the news of Steve, Nat, Sam and the Winter Soldier.

In the meantime, Tony has had the go ahead from the UN and his own panel; he and JARVIS are buried deep in the satellite code when the news report comes in.

"Breaking news in the capitol this lunch time," the CNN reporter states briskly as the picture flips to shaky real-time helicopter footage of Captain America fighting with the Winter Soldier.

Tony tunes out the news anchor and watches breathlessly as the two super-soldiers trade blow for blow. He sees the instant Steve snatches the mask away from his opponent and knows who he is fighting. Only a moment later, SHIELD's STRIKE team arrives and the news watches as Captain America, Black Widow and an unidentified man who looks a lot like Sam Wilson get taken into custody.

"Why haven't they reached out?" Clint asks bewildered.

Tony shakes his head. He'd figured last time it had been because ultimately neither Natasha or Steve had trusted him enough to just pick up the phone; they hadn't been close after New York. Since he'd learned about Barnes and his parents, Tony had figured that had played into Steve's thinking. This time though, he knows Steve and Natasha better and they've had plenty of time to reach out even before learning the Winter Soldier's identity. He has no answer for Clint.

Tony hacks SHIELD and finds out they've lost their captives somewhere in transit. Clint shakes his head at tracking down their safe house; between Fury and Natasha there are too many options.

What they decide is to bring Bruce and Thor up to speed and they make arrangements to head out to DC the next day, poised at least to be on scene to support whenever their team-mates resurface.

But as the sun comes up on the Eastern seaboard, the helicarriers are launched, Fury and Natasha make their play to drag HYDRA into the light and Steve gets his reunion with Bucky which goes as well as it did before with Steve ending up in the hospital.

Tony's reminded of how Strange warned him that time would force a path forward even if temporarily diverted.

When they land, they can only support the physical clean-up.

Digitally, thanks to the hacking Tony has already done, JARVIS had been perfectly positioned when Natasha started downloading information to the web to contain things. His AI worked diligently on filtering out anything which would compromise undercover situations or agents' lives. JARVIS also swept up anything which may be dangerous in the public domain; schematics for weapons, plans for infiltration into government computers, and locations of known criminals SHIELD has locked away.

The physical clean-up is as bad but not as bad as it could have been. Tony had only been able to keep two of the helicarriers grounded. The last one though…it's completely destroyed and littering the Potomac. It had also taken out half of the Triskelion which is in ruins. Thousands of people are suddenly out of work and not all of them are HYDRA; those which are will slip back into the woodwork and fall on their feet, Tony's certain of that.

Tony makes it to Steve's hospital room late at night. He carries the shield which he'd fished out of the river and places it against the wall quietly.

Sam jerks awake and is almost into a defensive position before he blinks and stills. "Sorry. I'm a little jumpy."

Tony nods. "Understandable given the day you've had."

Sam snorts his agreement and sits back in his uncomfortable chair.

Tony gestures at Steve. "He OK?"

"Physically, he's already mending. Doctors say he's going to be fine." Sam says.

"And what about the non-physical?" asks Tony pointedly.

Sam sighs heavily and rubs a thumb over his forehead, close to the dressing which is taped over one eye. "Your bet is as good as mine, Stark." He sighs heavily and shakes his head. "I've done a lot of work with veterans but this? This is way out of my wheelhouse." His gaze sharpens and he catches Tony's eyes with his own. "Steve said you all but drove him to the VA centre and shoved him through the door."

Tony shrugs. "He needed help."

"And you weren't it?" asks Sam with a note of accusation he doesn't hide.

"I'm not a soldier." Tony says bluntly. "And who exactly is qualified to deal with a man who comes back from a war seventy years too late? I figured at least the VA understood the difficulty veterans have in acclimatising back to civilian life and that was somewhat analogous to what Steve was going through."

Sam nods and grimaces apologetically. "I can see why you thought that." He sighs again and looks towards Steve, avoiding Tony's gaze. "This is…he wants to serve; thought SHIELD was the answer to that. Finding out he's been working alongside his worst enemy all this time? It's going to shake him."

"Why did Steve get beaten up so badly?" Tony asks pointedly. "He should have been able to take that guy down."

"Not my place to say." Sam replies and Tony can tell by the stubborn look on his face, Wilson's said as much as he's going to say. Sam underlines that by changing the subject and asking after Natasha.

"Doctors gave her the all clear. She's with Clint." Tony says. He'd sent the two of them ahead to his DC residence along with Bruce. He checks his watch. "Well, I have to go and see if I can get on top of the media coverage. I'll stop by again tomorrow."

"I'll tell Steve you came by." Sam offers.

Tony nods at the police officer stationed outside the room and makes his way down the corridor to the elevator. He's not entirely surprised when it opens up with Fury in it, dressed down in what Tony thinks is Fury's old man disguise of baggy pants, turtleneck and flap cap. He steps inside.

"I've made Coulson Director of SHIELD." Fury says. "He'll take point on the rebuilding."

"And you?" asks Tony.

"I'm going to hunt down these HYDRA bastards." Fury says. "Thanks for containing the web dump."

"What possessed you to release everything to the web?" Tony still doesn't know why they thought it was a good idea.

"Rogers wanted everything in the light. Seemed like the thing to do at the time." Fury admits.

"And if it killed as many SHIELD agents as HYDRA ones that was A-OK?" Tony shakes his head. "I know you guys accept collateral damage, but I can't believe you agreed to that."

"It was the wrong call." Fury concedes.

The elevator slides to a stop.

"Good luck, Stark." Fury shakes his hand.

Tony watches as Fury slinks out and heads through the throng of waiting reporters with no-one the wiser on who he is.

"Yeah, I'm going to need that luck," Tony murmurs under his breath as he strides out and immediately gets barraged by an array of bright lights and loud voices.


	11. Strategic talks

_Plan A_

"Boss, Captain Rogers is requesting entrance into the workshop."

Tony looked up from his soldering and found Rogers lurking beyond the clear door of his workshop. He wondered for a long moment why Rogers had sought him out. The former Captain America had turned up at the Compound the previous evening with only a duffle bag for company. Tony had greeted him courteously before turning him over to Sam and Natasha to get him settled.

"Let him in." Tony said.

The door slid open and Rogers made his way inside, nodding a greeting to Tony. He came to a stop on the other side of the work bench and shifted into an almost 'at ease' pose; hands behind his back.

"Tony," Rogers began, "thank you for seeing me."

"All settled in?" asked Tony politely as he turned off the soldering iron and checked on his work.

"Yes, thank you." Rogers cleared his throat. "I've been reviewing the plans with Thor and Colonel Rhodes and we think it would be good to have a briefing with everyone."

Tony nodded. "Tell FRIDAY the details and she'll make the arrangements."

"I'd also like to propose some changes and discuss them." Rogers continued.

Tony removed the soldering gloves and leaned back against the bench behind him. "Specifically?"

Rogers waited a moment as though judging Tony's sincerity before he cleared his throat. "There's an assumption that Thanos will go after the infinity stones."

"Yes." Tony said, curious about where Rogers was going with that.

"You've divided our forces into teams to protect each stone." Steve confirmed. "There's a group scheduled to guard and protect Vision and the mind stone. One team to protect Strange and the time stone."

"That's right." Tony nodded.

"So the entire plan is to protect the stones Thanos doesn't have." Rogers summarised. "What about us taking the stones he does have?"

"A counter-attack?" Tony tilted his head to the side as he considered it. "We've always gone on the assumption that Thanos was too powerful to take on directly. Given the knowledge and the experience the Guardians have…" he shrugged, "survival has been the goal."

"Which I get, absolutely, and I'm not saying we don't follow the current plan in lots of ways." Rogers said earnestly. "I just think we're missing a trick. He's going to underestimate us. He's reliant on Loki for his intel and Thor believes Loki will tell him what Loki believes; that Hulk was the big hitter and the rest of us are beatable. We can use that."

Tony leaned back against the bench and gestured at Rogers. "What's your plan?"

"Small strike team." Rogers answered promptly. "If we go after the stones with a sizeable force he'll see us coming and move to protect them more. A small team can infiltrate his side and search out the stones."

"You'd need to get intelligence on where he's keeping the stones." Tony pointed out. "Otherwise it won't succeed."

"Uh, the green lady, um…"

"Gamora?" prompted Tony amused at Roger's stumbling.

"Yes," Rogers breathed out, "she says that Thanos is likely to bring the stones with him. Whatever place or ship he uses, where he bases himself would hold the stones."

"And who would you assign to the mission?" asked Tony.

Rogers straightened. "I'd like to take Natasha and Sam. We're used to working together. Natasha has the stealth skills and Sam can provide air support. I'd take Gamora too is she's willing for inside knowledge and having seen her spar with Natasha this morning I know she can hold her own."

"Right."

Tony would be more surprised about the non-mention of Barnes if Rogers hadn't already confirmed that Barnes had requested to stay in Wakanda to repay T'Challa for his protection.

"Sounds like a reasonable idea to me but I expect the panel will want to establish some kind of boundaries of engagement." Tony said.

Rogers frowned. "If I see an opportunity to take the stones…"

"That's the point; you're making this about your best judgement." Tony said firmly, cutting in. "You, Natasha and Sam have a history of causing collateral damage," he held up a hand when Rogers opened his mouth to argue, "remember Lagos? Or how about DC? You and Sam have been unwilling to agree to oversight. You run off and do this without their knowledge or outside of the boundaries they'll set, and you'll lose any goodwill for you, Wilson and Barnes when this is over."

Rogers grimaced but he lifted his chin. "I expect to be included in negotiating the boundaries they'll want me to operate within."

Tony gave a quick nod. "That sounds fair. I'll support your proposal."

"Thank you." Rogers took a step back, clearing intending to leave with his purpose in visiting completed.

Tony didn't stop him. He watched as Rogers walked away until he was out of sight. He rubbed a hand over his face.

It was fine, he told himself sternly. He and Rogers had been civil.

It was fine.

It was…not fine.

He ignored the churning in his belly and picked up the soldering iron. Maybe it wasn't fine, but he needed to focus on what could be fixed, not on what perhaps had never worked to begin with.

 _Plan Z_

"I really don't see why we have to do this." Steve argues as Natasha straightens his tie.

They're waiting in a small antechamber in the Senate for the Committee on Extraordinary Events to start its latest session.

"Checks and balances? Constitution? 'We, the people'? Any of that ring any bells for you, Cap?" Tony says as he absently sends another text to JARVIS.

Neither Steve nor Natasha have approached him yet with the truth about Barnes and his parents but he's going to wait and see if they do this time. JARVIS had immediately found the footage and a list of the Winter Soldier's kills in the downloaded HYDRA data since he was already looking for it. Tony has had JARVIS delete the information from the public arena although he knows he wasn't quick enough to prevent it from being seen completely. Still, it might stop someone like Zemo finding out in the future.

"Of course, it does, it's just…" Steve flounders as Natasha pats his chest and smiles at him.

"As we've discussed before, Captain, consider this just another formal debrief." Coulson says. As the new Director of SHIELD, he's already been through his own set of Committee hearings, which have concluded that Fury stepping down was good and Coulson has a mandate to clean house, maybe with more scrutiny than he would have wanted but less than Coulson had feared.

Coulson has also been an extremely good ally in getting Steve and Natasha to understand that they needed to attend their own hearings and take responsibility for what went down.

Steve takes a deep breath and nods. "I guess."

Tony also recognises that his own willingness to oversight has set a precedent just as he'd hoped, and Coulson hasn't been shy about pointing that out and holding Tony up as a good example to Steve and Natasha. He'd had to excuse himself from the discussion at that point to find a bathroom and laugh hysterically.

The Committee room is packed as Tony takes his place in the first row of the public seats. Clint is next to him on the aisle, smartly dressed in a three-piece grey suit, married with a pale purple shirt and a deeper purple tie with a gold spider pin. Bruce is in the other seat beside Tony, looking deeply uncomfortable in a new Tom Ford suit. He's eschewed the tie and wears his shirt open at the neck. Thor and Jane sit beyond Bruce; Thor in a tailored suit and shirt from Saville Row and Jane in a smart pant suit by a designer Pepper had recommended. They'd all agreed with Tony that they'd needed to look professional and smart.

Steve had reluctantly agreed to the same, but Tony thinks he was relieved when Coulson had confirmed he was entitled to wear his Army uniform. Steve's uniform is still tailored but it matches the green service uniform of every soldier in the US Army. Sam is wearing his Air Force version and the two of them make an impressive sight.

Natasha had no problems with the suggestion to be smart. She'd finally settled on a sleek dark grey dress, sleeveless but with a high neckline and a thin black belt. Her accessories are carefully selected from the clutch bag to the shoes to her jewellery which is limited to a single necklace of an arrow charm. She's chosen muted make-up which softens her features and has pinned her hair up into an elegant chignon and added feathered bangs seemingly overnight.

Coulson sits beside Natasha as the Senate Committee hearing is called to order.

Tony listens with interest as Steve reads the prepared statement which SHIELD legal have already confirmed as acceptable. It essentially claims that Steve and Natasha went to ground on Fury's advice after being attacked, both in recovering the computer core and investigating the link to Camp Lehigh. It confirms that they'd taken shelter with Sam, before their plan to find out more about HYDRA had hit a Winter Soldier bump in the road. They confirm Maria Hill and Fury had helped them escape from HYDRA and the five of them had come up with the plan to destroy the helicarriers and reveal HYDRA to the world.

Steve places the statement on the table in front of him and looks back up at the waiting Senators. Tony tries not to feel nervous but he's too aware that Steve's tone has slipped into his 'Captain America knows best' righteousness which won't play well with the politicians.

Senator Gibson leans forward. "Thank you for your statement. I'll open the floor to questions beginning with Senator Hall."

Hall, a fifty-something Democrat with steel-grey hair and sharp brown eyes, leans forward. "As of this morning, the fatality list associated with these events reached one hundred and twenty-two. Of these hundred and twenty-two fatalities, only thirty-eight have been identified as HYDRA. Many of these deaths occurred in the immediate moments after your company-wide announcement revealing HYDRA had infiltrated SHIELD. Most occurred because the HYDRA agents moved to eliminate the SHIELD agents they were with. Over half are associated with the helicarrier crash into SHIELD headquarters. What is your justification for this loss of life?"

Steve clears his throat. "We believed that the helicarrier would likely be staffed with HYDRA agents given the importance of executing Project Insight. Unfortunately, there was no way to warn the SHIELD agents without also notifying HYDRA."

"We obviously regret the loss of life." Natasha adds, quick enough that Tony knows she's recognised Steve's lack of acknowledgement is not good but slow enough that it doesn't look too much like she's trying to make-up for Steve.

"I'm not sure it is obvious." Hall states harshly.

She sits back though and the next few questions are softballs; clarifications for the sequence of events or just a repeat of information already in the public domain.

Senator Burbridge is an older Republican, an Army veteran with a respected Congressional record. His fierce glare doesn't bode well. "Tell me, Technical Sergeant Wilson, how did you acquire the EXO-7 technology?"

Tony can see how Steve straightens as Sam admits they had appropriated it from an Army base.

"You admit that you broke into a Fort Meade and stole the EXO-7 technology. Your collective statement read by Captain Rogers states that the technology was damaged in a fight with the Winter Soldier and lost when the helicarrier went down." Burbridge states unequivocally. "Give me one good reason why this Committee should not recommend your immediate arrest."

Sam's back looks stiff as a board. "I regret the loss of the technology but going through proper channels may have alerted HYDRA and we needed it to provide us with an advantage in stopping HYDRA's plan to launch the helicarriers as weapons of mass destruction."

"It was my decision." Steve says supportively.

Burbridge raises one bushy eyebrow. "You take full responsibility for the theft and the loss of the technology, Captain Rogers?"

"Yes." Steve says.

"I assume then you are aware that the technology was worth an estimated one point two million dollars and you intend to reimburse the government to that amount." Burbridge states bluntly.

Steve stills. "I'm afraid I don't have that kind of money, Senator."

"Then perhaps you'll forfeit your assets and pay for as long as it takes to repay the value." Burbridge retorts.

"If the money is more important to you and the rest of the Committee than winning the fight against HYDRA I'll agree to that." Steve shoots back.

Gibson intervenes before Burbridge can explode. "Captain Rogers, Senator Burbridge; I'll remind you both this is an open hearing and a respectful tone is expected. Senator, your time is about to expire."

Burbridge visibly takes a breath. "I have no other questions."

His friend Senator Elizabeth Partridge is next in line. "I'd like to continue questions around the EXO-7." She smiles shark-like at Steve. "Captain Rogers, why did you feel you needed the EXO-7 technology?"

"Sam – Technical Sergeant Wilson volunteered to assist us and we needed his help." Steve begins. "When he shared his background the advantage of the EXO-7 was clear; it would enable us to have air-support against the helicarriers and it would not be expected by our enemy."

"Well, I have two follow-up questions then, kind of both related." Partridge replies. "One: why did you need Mister Wilson's help in particular? While you worked for SHIELD, you've also been part of a wider team, the Avengers, in fighting two alien attacks on our planet. Why not seek help from your Avenger team-mates? And two: in the same vein, Tony Stark's Iron Man technology has clear advantages over the EXO-7. Prince Thor of Asgard also has the ability to fly. Wouldn't they have provided you with a greater advantage in respect to air support?"

Tony can't deny that he's kind of interested in the answer himself.

"This wasn't an alien attack." Steve replies passionately. "Director Fury had stated in his early warning to trust nobody. We followed his lead and guidance which limited who we could contact."

"You say you followed Director Fury's statement to trust nobody. Did you or do you suspect the other Avengers of being linked in some way to HYDRA?" asks Partridge.

"Of course not. That's not what I said." Steve responds heatedly.

"Then why were they considered untrustworthy?" presses Partridge. "You were on the run, hiding from the authorities, knowing this great secret about SHIELD being infiltrated by HYDRA; you were planning an attack on SHIELD headquarters and to engage HYDRA, and you are telling me it didn't occur to you to once pick up a phone and ask for support from the rest of the Avengers?"

Natasha rescues Steve. "We discussed it but believed they would be under surveillance and contacting them would result in alerting HYDRA to our position and plan. While Steve had become friends with Sam Wilson, he was unlikely to be watched and could, if you'll excuse the pun, fly under the radar."

The joke causes a momentary twitter of chuckles and lightens the tense atmosphere.

Partridge sits back; her point has been made and while Natasha's words have helped answer the main question, Tony knows the substantive point of Steve and Natasha not reaching out to the Avengers will resonate with the watching media.

The next Senator is Tom McGraw an elderly gentleman from Arizona. He sits forward and holds up a piece of paper. "This is your statement. I've read this statement several times. I heard you read it and I still don't understand what in the Sam Hill you were thinking either strategically or tactically."

He puts the paper down and picks up a folder.

"This is the combined report from the DOD panel which has oversight on the Iron Man, and the UN's after-action report on the mission they authorised Mister Stark to perform once alerted to the fact that HYDRA was attempting a coup within SHIELD and intended to use the helicarriers for their own purposes. This lists out the tactical actions Mister Stark made to take control of the satellites and to ground the helicarriers from being launched. Now I'm not a computer savvy man but I understand prevention of an attack is a solid tactic."

Tony wonders where McGraw is going with his point.

"I also understand that when the helicarriers were launched ahead of schedule due to _your_ attack on SHIELD headquarters," McGraw continues, "Tony Stark was able to contain two outright and prevent the third from connecting with the satellite. I also understand that he intervened to prevent widescale collateral damage to SHIELD's intelligence network and personnel, to the national security of this nation, by stepping in and containing the information dump to the internet. I know he and the other Avengers stepped in to help rescue those trapped in the rubble, to take into custody those identified as HYDRA, and to support relief and recovery efforts in the days which followed."

"Senator McGraw," Gibson says kindly, "is there a question coming because you're almost out of time."

"There's a question." McGraw says, waving the folder at the Chair before turning back to the table in front of him. "Here's my question: why did you plan such a blatant frontal assault which strategically and tactically didn't make any sense?"

Steve actually squirms in his seat. "Firstly, let me say I'm grateful to Tony and the rest of my fellow Avengers for their assistance and support in preventing Insight from happening and in helping in the aftermath. In respect to your question, it was my belief that HYDRA needed to be dragged into the light; a covert operation to prevent their plan still kept them hidden and without proof of their existence and their actions being shown to everyone, they would be able to steal back into the shadows. Our strategy was to give them no place to hide."

"It's questionable whether you achieved your aim, but it also sounds like you disagree with Director Coulson and Doctor Stark's tactics to contain the situation?" McGraw asks brusquely.

"Not at all." Steve states firmly. "In retrospect, working to keep HYDRA's plan from being executed and the helicarriers on the ground gave us a clear advantage. However, even if we had thought of it, no-one in our group had that level of skill in computers."

"And we've already heard how reluctant you were to approach your team-mates and why your efforts were not coordinated." McGraw sat back with a huff.

"I'd like to change direction if I may." Senator Lou Biggleton the Third is a rotund Southern gentleman. He smiles and mops the sweat from his brow. "You claim in your statement that the HYDRA assassin known as the Winter Soldier is actually Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. You state you engaged him in hand to hand combat on the helicarrier which ultimately crashed. You claim having beaten you and thrown you off the helicarrier, that the Winter Soldier rescued you from a watery grave proving that he regained some of his former self in that moment despite your being unconscious through the event. You admit that he went missing in the aftermath and is still at large." He mops his brow again. "Forgive me stating the obvious, but why were you unable to apprehend such a dangerous individual?"

Natasha shifts drawing the attention away from Steve. "From the information we've been able to obtain, Sergeant Barnes had been subjected to experimental serum not unlike the super-soldier serum invented by Doctor Erskine. HYDRA's own records show Barnes was subjected to intensive brain-washing and training over a number of years in between cryogenic stasis. Steve, Captain America, is a naturally gifted soldier; he's trained with SHIELD since his recovery in a number of fighting techniques but his practical experience is less than a full year. It's not illogical to conclude that right now the Winter Soldier is a match for Captain America."

"A pretty argument by a pretty lady," the Senator says, "but I believe my question was directed at Captain Rogers."

Steve straightens, and Tony can guess what he's going to say. "Bucky is an innocent man who HYDRA has used as a weapon for years. He deserves a chance to come home."

"Did you make any attempt to apprehend him, Captain Rogers?" asks Biggleton directly.

"I talked with him and tried to break through the brainwashing and I succeeded." Steve says defensively.

"Because he saved you from the river, although we have limited proof of this beyond your own word and certainly the medical view of your condition on being admitted to hospital indicates that if you hadn't been found by the hikers who came across you, your injuries may have been fatal despite your healing factor." Biggleton mops his brow again.

Steve says nothing but Tony observes how Natasha inches closer and Sam bumps his shoulder gently.

The hearing room is unusually silent.

"I ask again, Captain Rogers; did you make any attempt to apprehend him?" Biggleton says almost kindly.

"I attempted to prevent him from arming the helicarrier with the algorithm to locate known individuals who had been targeted by HYDRA." Steve answers eventually. "But to answer your question; no, my objective was to rescue Bucky and bring him home, not to apprehend him like he's some criminal. He doesn't deserve to be treated like that."

"And his victims? Do they not deserve justice?" Biggleton's eyes flicker to Tony – and Tony suddenly knows he and JARVIS as quick as they'd been, hadn't been quick enough.

Steve doesn't seem to notice that Biggleton's attention has momentarily moved to Tony. "Bucky was brainwashed to perform as the Winter Soldier. It wasn't his fault; it was HYDRA."

"I believe that will be cold comfort for the loved ones of the people he assassinated." Biggleton picks up a piece of paper. "I have a list here from the original HYDRA download copied to the CIA intelligence servers almost instantaneously. It lists over one hundred people who died at the hands of the Winter Soldier and I…"

Gibson coughs. "My apologies, Senator, but you are out of time."

"With the Chair's permission, I'll sacrifice my time and give it to my esteemed colleague from South Carolina." The next Senator says quickly. "I believe his questioning has merit."

Gibson nods. "Senator Biggleton, you may continue."

"I thank my colleague." Biggleton focuses again on Steve. "Captain Rogers, were you aware of this list prior to confronting the Winter Soldier?"

"Yes." Steve admits.

Biggleton hums. He raises his head and looks out again towards Tony.

Steve suddenly seems to realise his intent and half-turns, but Natasha places a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Mister Stark, I apologise for the public nature of this query, but are you aware that the Winter Soldier killed your parents Howard and Maria Stark?"

There's a shocked gasp around the Committee room; Steve bows his head as Natasha looks beseechingly at Tony.

Tony slowly stands, ignoring Natasha. He clears his throat and tries to speak but his throat closes up.

It's old news to him.

More than old news.

It's a timeline ago and too many years to count since he'd learnt the truth in a Siberian bunker. It shouldn't hurt as much as it does. It shouldn't matter that Steve's silence has hurt Tony for a second time.

He takes in a sharp breath and is suddenly aware that Clint is rising to his feet and Bruce…he waves them back down.

Tony takes another breath and focuses on Biggleton. "I am aware."

"Do you share the belief that the Winter Soldier should be granted a free pass on the assassinations conducted by him as Captain America proposes?" asks Biggleton.

One of the Senators protests but Gibson refuses their objection and directs Tony to answer.

Tony avoids Steve's gaze.

"I'm still…coming to terms with the news. But…" he sighs, trying to collect his thoughts into something which won't damage them beyond all hope of saving their world from Thanos, "I know what it is to be tortured and held captive just for a few months never mind years. I…I wouldn't wish that on anyone. James Buchanan Barnes was a war hero, _is_ a war hero. My father used to tell me stories about…" he breaks off because his throat closes up again, his emotions racing. His mind can't help replaying the damned video; Barnes hitting his father, strangling his mother.

Tony can't quite focus. It shouldn't matter to him.

Not now.

Not after so many years but it's like he's back in the bunker and Steve is in front of him, lying to him, fighting him…his shield coming down on him…he can't breathe…

Someone is talking but Tony can't make out the words.

Thor stands up. "You will cease this questioning."

Clint is on his feet and his arm is protectively bracing Tony's back.

There's noise – words, a jumble of sounds which Tony hears but can't comprehend.

He looks around trying to find something to anchor him and Steve's eyes meet his, guilty but defiant just like before…

Tony allows Clint to guide him out of the hearing and into an empty room. His knees buckle and take him to the floor and he huddles against a wall, desperately trying to catch his breath.

"Easy, Tony." Bruce is beside him, one hand on Tony's shoulder, his other taking his pulse. "Breathe slowly; in through your nose, out through your mouth."

Breathing.

Breathing would be good.

Tony follows Bruce's calm instructions.

"Pepper." Tony finally manages to say.

Clint presses a phone into his hand and the next thing he hears is her voice.

"I'm on my way." Pepper says. "I'm getting into the car; Happy's driving. We're on our way, Tony."

"You'll stay on the phone?" asks Tony, trying to sound like he doesn't need her to stay on the phone and needing her to stay on the phone so much it physically hurts.

"I'll stay on the phone." Pepper promises. "How about I talk you through the request Reed Richards sent me yesterday?"

"That's…that's unusual torture." Tony tries to joke but he's too relieved to really mean it. He closes his eyes and listens to her, and tries not to worry that the Avengers might be broken beyond repair again.


	12. Problem solving

_Plan A_

"Boss, there's an incoming video call for you from Wakanda." FRIDAY's announcement pulled Tony out of the latest update to Spiderkid's suit. The web-slinger was going to need more protection since he'd turned up and told Tony he was joining them for the fight with Thanos.

Tony idly wondered what T'Challa wanted. "On screen."

The screensaver of his latest car on the monitor closest to him disappeared and was replaced with the image of James Buchanan Barnes.

The former Winter Soldier looked back at Tony. "Mister Stark."

"Tony." Tony said swiftly, pushing down his surprise. "Mister Stark was my father."

They both freeze and stare at each other.

"That wasn't…" Tony sighed. "I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine." Barnes said quickly. "If anything, you're the one who has the right to be upset about…that."

Tony swallowed and sat down on the nearby chair. He picked up a stress ball almost absentmindedly and decided ignoring it was probably the way to go. "So what can I do for you today?"

"The Wakandans need air support." Barnes said bluntly.

Tony caught the ball and stared at Barnes. "They have incredibly advanced fighter jets."

"And incredibly inexperienced fighter pilots." Barnes pointed out. "Their Air Force is used to patrols, exercises, but they've never been tested in an all-out dogfight."

"So you want us to send air support with experience." Tony concluded.

Barnes nodded. "I can fly but it's not my expertise."

There was another uncomfortable moment as they both seemed to remember exactly what Barnes' expertise was and how it had been used to kill the Starks.

"I'll discuss it with the others and come up with some names." Tony said, although he figured Rhodey would be the obvious choice. Not only could be provide practical air support during any fight but he had the career experience to lead a more traditional air strike. But he hated the idea of Rhodey being half a world away from him even if he knew tactically it made sense. Maybe Clint was another option; he was a good pilot.

"I'll inform T'Challa." Barnes said. He made no move to end the call and he shifted almost imperceptibly as though discomfited.

Tony raised an eyebrow in silent query.

"The other reason I wanted to call…I wanted to say that…I'm sorry." Barnes kept his gaze direct but it was clear it wasn't easy for him. "I can't…I know there's nothing I could ever say or do to make it right. But I wanted you to know that I…I am sorry for your loss, for the pain I caused you."

Tony wanted to just end the call; to reach out and cut the connection. He didn't want to talk about it; didn't want to acknowledge it. His parents were dead and they'd been murdered by the man who gazed back at him with genuine regret and remorse shining from his trying to be stoic face. But they hadn't, had they? His parents hadn't been murdered by James Barnes. They'd been murdered by the Winter Soldier; a construct, a weapon created by HYDRA.

"It wasn't your fault." And for the first time the words feel right to Tony. "But…thank you."

Barnes nods quickly and looks away; there's a glimmer of tears but they're gone by the time he turns back to the screen. "I want to…I want to apologise for Siberia and…"

Tony waved his hand at the screen. "Don't." He grimaced. "That wasn't…you were defending yourself and Rogers. It wasn't my finest moment."

"I think finding out the way you did…I don't blame you." Barnes said. "If we'd been alone I'd probably have let you have your shot at me."

"It's just as well Rogers was there then." Tony replied, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice and fearing he'd failed.

Barnes shook his head. "Steve's…he got in the middle of something that was between us. I wasn't…I should have stopped him, I shouldn't have fought back, but I couldn't let Stevie be hurt because of me and…" he sighed heavily, "in the end everything was screwed up."

Tony nodded slowly. "I think everything was screwed up sums the whole thing up pretty well."

Barnes' lips twitched and something eased in his posture. "About you and Steve…"

Tony held up a hand. "You shouldn't get in the middle of _that_ , Barnes."

Barnes nodded slowly. "I had to try."

Tony hummed under his breath. "So, air support. I'll get back to you and His Kittiness as soon as I can, Barnes."

Barnes let the obvious change of subject slide. "It's James, and…thank you, Tony."

They were silent for a beat; both recognising the shared sense of resolution. James leaned forward and the monitor returned to the picture of the car.

Tony closed his eyes for a moment before he got up. "FRIDAY, ask Rhodey, Clint and Thor to come down to discuss Wakanda's request."

"Will do, Boss." FRIDAY said perkily.

Tony put the ball down and cleared his throat. "Invite Rogers too."

Maybe he couldn't fix what was broken but if he and James could come to an understanding, maybe there was some kind of a hope that he and Rogers – he and _Steve_ could eventually come to terms.

 _Plan Z_

Tony takes a deep breath. He smooths down his silk ruby red tie and adjusts the cuffs of his dark grey Armani suit. The tailored pink shirt has cufflinks which were Pepper's engagement gift to him; gold with rubies, his Iron Man colours. He takes another deep breath and checks his appearance in the mirror of his bathroom.

"I can do this." He tells his image firmly.

"Captain Rogers has arrived with Mister Wilson and Agent Romanov. They have been shown to the main conference room with the other Avengers, sir." JARVIS informs him almost gently.

Pepper appears in the bathroom doorway. She looks beautiful in a tailored cream suit with a ruby blouse which matches his tie. "Ready?"

"Aren't I always?" he jokes.

Pepper gives him a knowing look. "You don't have to do this."

Tony shakes his head. "There's too much at stake for us to be divided over something which happened decades ago."

As it was the hearings had been suspended for a week and SI has been battling a media frenzy in the past couple of days since Tony's very public meltdown in the Committee chamber. Pepper had put out a press statement but it hadn't done much to prevent the media dissecting the event every which way they could.

"Nobody would blame you." Pepper says as she moves to stand behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and cuddling into him. "He and Romanov are shitty people not telling you themselves."

"I've been a shitty person myself." Tony says, meeting her eyes in the mirror. "You gave me a second chance."

"I love you." Pepper points out.

Tony shifts, turning around and hugging her. He pulls back and rests his forehead on hers for a long moment. "Love you too."

Pepper kisses him sweetly. "You're a good man, Tony."

Rhodey raps on the bathroom doorframe. "Are you two done canoodling?"

"We'll never be done." Tony says, not letting Pepper go but loosening his hold so she can turn and smile at his best friend.

"I want to say you don't have to do this, Tony," Rhodey says, looking grim and determined in his Air Force blues, "but after what you saw in the portal I know why you can't just drop them."

Tony nods. "There's a bigger threat out there than the Chitauri, Rhodey. I won't – I can't let this break the Avengers apart when I know we're going to be needed."

Rhodes sighs. "You know we have your back."

Tony smiles. "I know."

Pepper and Rhodey walk with him through the penthouse and into the elevator. They step off at the executive floor of SI and make their way to the conference room. They can hear the faint murmur of voices beyond the wooden door but Pepper opens it briskly and ushers Rhodey and Tony inside before closing it firmly behind her.

Silence falls immediately over the gathered Avengers.

Tony isn't surprised to find Coulson also in the room, sat at the far end of the table with Maria Hill. They're accompanied by an Asian woman who'd been introduced to him once as Agent Melinda May. Her stony expression had encouraged him to keep it straight with her.

Bruce sits with his back to the window, dressed down in jeans and a plain button-down shirt. Clint is in black combat pants and a black t-shirt; he's taken up a standing position beside the window looking out as though checking for threats. Thor stands beside Bruce, his muscular arms folded over a t-shirt which proclaims his love for smart girls.

Steve, Sam and Natasha all stand on the opposite side. They are in variations of smart casual clothing; Steve in jeans, t-shirt and leather jacket combo, Sam in jeans and a Henley shirt, and Natasha in tight black pants with a plain white t-shirt under a smart leather blazer.

"Thank you all for coming." Pepper gestures to the table and everyone sits apart from Clint. "We're here to address how we go forward, following the revelation at the Congressional hearing."

Coulson nods sharply. "Thank you for inviting us here. I believe we're all eager to find a way through this."

Steve leans forward and looks up the table to Tony. "I owe you an apology. I should have spoken with you the moment I realised Howard and your mother were…" He grimaces. "I just…I didn't know how to tell you."

"And the fact that it was your friend who killed them played no part in that decision making?" asks Bruce pointedly.

Steve flushes.

"That's unfair." Sam speaks up defiantly, glaring across the table at Bruce.

"It was not honourable to remain silent." Thor says.

"This isn't about us not saying anything," Natasha argues coolly, "but Stark's reaction at the hearing. If he had remained calm, this would be a non-issue."

"Unbelievable." Bruce says, glaring at her across the table.

"You got that right." Rhodey says under his breath.

Tony raises his hand before anyone else can speak and the meeting descends into chaos. "She's right."

Natasha barely manages to hide her shock at Tony agreeing with her.

"Tony…" Bruce makes to protest.

"I appreciate the support, Bruce, I really do," Tony says, unable to keep his emotions from roughening his voice, "but she's right. The problem isn't that Steve and Natasha didn't tell me; I knew. I just…didn't handle being faced with it well." He shrugs.

Pepper's hand slides over his and she tangles their fingers together. Tony squeezes her hand gently, grateful she's beside him.

He meets Steve's eyes. "I'm not saying I wouldn't have appreciated a conversation when you found out. But I did find out myself before the hearing and I could have spoken to you too. Maybe that would have made a difference, I don't know. I wasn't expecting it to be used as a weapon against us in a public domain quite so soon."

"You expected it would be one day?" asks Coulson, picking up on Tony's wording immediately.

Tony shrugs. "It's an explosive piece of information. Steve's best buddy is the assassin who killed my parents. It hurts us both. Theoretically puts us on different sides." He waves at the table and how the team is sitting. "Splits us up without even trying. The media is already taking sides and that's…not good."

"I am sorry, Tony." Steve says, much more genuinely than the almost proforma words he'd uttered at the beginning. "Bruce is right too. I can't deny that Bucky being my friend wasn't part of it for me. Bucky…he was there for me when I had no-one and I'm…I have to be there for him now. But I know I can't ask you to do the same; they were your parents."

"It wasn't his fault." Tony says, and means it because he'd said it once to Barnes himself and meant it then too. "He was the gun, not the person responsible for firing the trigger."

Steve blinks in surprise and looks away, emotionally overcome at Tony's pronouncement.

Natasha regards Tony with a frank gaze. "Do you really mean that?"

Pepper bristles but Tony squeezes her hand.

"I've spent years making weapons to know one when I see one." Tony replies briskly. "The HYDRA file on the Winter Soldier, on Barnes, is horrifying." And it truly is; it's not even a lie. "Torture and brain-washing were just the beginning of what they did to him." He feels his own PTSD anxiety beginning to surface and takes a slow breath. "They didn't see him as human just as asset, a weapon. Whoever Barnes was before…he was a weapon when his handlers sent him out to kill." He shoots a look at Steve. "He may never fully recover who he was."

Steve nods. "I have to try."

Natasha pins Tony with another frank gaze. "You can't tell me that you're completely OK with this."

"I'm not." Tony replies honestly. "I think I demonstrated at the hearing just how not OK with it I am." He swallows around the lump in his throat. "But what I know is that we can't let this drive a wedge between us all."

"You speak with much wisdom, my friend." Thor said softly.

Natasha sits back, mollified at last.

"So how do we fix this?" asks Bruce.

Coulson clears his throat. "We have three problems I can see." He looks over at Steve. "Firstly, your actions have given the impression that there is a division within the Avengers which can be exploited. The hearing testimony clearly illustrated that you didn't reach out to your team-mates." His eyes flickered to Hill. "Keeping the other Avengers at such a distance was the wrong call."

"My call." Steve says immediately.

"One Fury agreed with." Maria says supportively.

"We all agreed with it." Natasha confirms.

"And while collectively falling on your swords is a nice show of togetherness here," Tony remarks, gesturing at them, "it doesn't stop it being a stupid decision."

"He's right." Clint says, drawing their attention before Steve or Natasha can snap back at Tony.

Natasha arches an eyebrow at Clint. "We were trying to protect you." And Tony can see that for her protecting them was the genuine reason.

"I thought it was because we were under surveillance." Bruce softly jabs.

"And this argument would be why it was a stupid decision because the motivation doesn't matter; you didn't call us in and we're pissed about that." Clint sighs. "Either we're a team or we're not."

"This was SHIELD business." Maria says defensively. "It wasn't an Avengers' mission."

"That would fly if Captain Rogers and Agent Romanov hadn't involved Technical Sergeant Wilson, who is neither a SHIELD agent nor an Avenger." Rhodey says. "And forgive me, but isn't the Avengers Initiative _part of_ SHIELD?"

"Perhaps a financial and legal separation would be of benefit." Pepper says.

"It's a good suggestion." Coulson looks over at Steve and Natasha. "I think both of you need to consider your futures with SHIELD and with the Avengers."

Steve frowns. "Are you giving us an ultimatum?"

"No," Coulson says, "I'm asking you to consider the clear conflict of interest that has arisen."

"You should also keep in mind that rightly or wrongly many of the remaining SHIELD agents hold you responsible for the lives which were lost." May says bluntly.

Natasha's face is blank.

"For what it's worth," Coulson says, "I'd hate to lose either of you but it may provide a clean slate both for SHIELD and for you." He clasps his hands on the table. "However, I think you also have to consider that as Stark has said; whatever the motivations, your actions in this matter have led to the perception both in the team and publicly that you didn't trust your Avenger team-mates, even when their skills and knowledge could have provided a strategic and tactical advantage. That has to be addressed."

Tony's relieved that Coulson's the one to say it.

Steve straightens in his chair and looks over at the rest of the Avengers. "The Director's right. We screwed up, _I_ screwed up not reaching out to you all. We could have done with the help and that we didn't ask for it was a bad call."

"I accept your apology." Thor rumbles.

Bruce gives a jerky nod.

Clint and Natasha exchange an entire silent conversation in a glance which seems to leave them both more relaxed and back to being in synch.

Tony acknowledges his own acceptance of Steve's apology with a nod and taps his finger against the table. "In public let's go with the excuse Natasha already gave at the hearing; you thought we'd be under surveillance and HYDRA would be tipped off. We also need to work back through your statement, not calling us in wasn't the only bad call the hearing highlighted."

Steve flushes but he nods.

"We also need to publicly address your reaction at the hearing, Stark. That's the second problem." Coulson says mildly. "The press statement stating your reaction was in part due to remembering your own experience in Afghanistan was a good start but there is a continuing narrative in the media coverage that you and Captain Rogers are divided about the matter of Sergeant Barnes."

Tony grimaces but nods.

"A joint interview with someone like Oprah or Barbara Walters would probably help allay that." Pepper suggests. "Tony can explain his reaction and they can both state firmly that James Barnes deserves help and support."

Steve looks as unhappy as Tony is at that idea, but he agrees.

"You said there were three problems," Rhodey says to Coulson, "what's the third?"

"HYDRA." Coulson replies.

"Right," Tony says tightly, "that problem."


	13. Team work

_Plan A_

Tony stretched and sent the last armour to the fabrication unit. He quietly commanded FRIDAY to shut everything down as his stomach rumbled reminding him he hadn't eaten. He headed up to the kitchen in the communal area.

The Guardians were settled into the den watching Die Hard – the original film. They all seemed to have eschewed the furniture for the floor.

Quill was fully sprawled on his stomach on the floor, bowl of popcorn in front of him, his eyes glued to the action on the monitor above him. Groot, the teenage tree, had copied Quill's pose and his dark eyes were pinned to the film. Gamora sat cross-legged to the other side of Quill, equally entranced. Drax sat beside Gamora, copying her cross-legged position, but with a massive bowl of popcorn in his lap. Rocket, the racoon, sat the other side of Groot; parts of a weapon scattered around him. He'd evidently been cleaning it before being caught up in the film.

Tony wondered where the other Guardians were before shrugging the question away in favour of microwaving left-over pizza. He glanced toward the monitor and saw they'd reached the part where John McClane had his final face-off with Hans the baddie.

"His strategy was pathetic." Drax announced bluntly. "He should hide his face in shame at such a strategy."

"The woman should have rescued herself." Gamora agreed. "If someone grabbed me, his genitals would have been removed from his body."

Tony winced and made a note not to get on Gamora's bad side.

Quill tapped Gamora's foot almost absently. "This next bit is awesome!"

Tony rescued his pizza, blew on it and took a mouthful of hot cheese and tomato. He munched through the rest of his dinner, watching with nostalgia as the last bad guy was shot by John's cop buddy on the outside.

Rocket surreptitiously wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye as John and Holly kissed.

"I am Groot." The tree teased his animal friend gently.

"Shut up! It's beautiful." Rocket said defensively.

"I so wanted to be John." Quill announced as the credits started to roll. "He's so cool."

"Your strategies are pathetic like his." Drax stated.

Tony almost choked on his pizza.

"No, they're not. I have great strategies." Quill protested, not sounding quite sure if they were or weren't.

"I could have blown up that building five different ways in the first fifteen minutes." Rocket said. "The physics on this world are screwed up. All I need is half a tonne of pulidatium and some string."

"That doesn't sound feasible." Gamora said.

"I am Groot." The tree agreed.

Rocket protested and began describing how he could have blown up the building. Tony was half-impressed at the engineering knowledge on display and half in awe of Rocket's ability to make stuff up on the fly. He finished the pizza and washed it down with some Coke.

Quill sighed heavily, interrupting Rocket, and drawing his friend's attention back to him. "That was so good. You know my Mom loved this film. It was the last one we saw together."

His team seem to shuffle that bit closer to Quill.

"You are fortunate to have such a good memory of your parent." Gamora said quietly.

"It's a good film." Rocket agreed.

"I am Groot."

"It did not make me want to pluck my eyes from my head." Drax rumbled.

"Thanks, guys." Quill said, sniffing.

Tony cleared his throat and froze as every Guardian in the room turned to look at him. "You know there's a sequel? Actually, more than one."

"No!" Quill's eyes widened with the wonder of a small child. "Really?"

"FRIDAY," Tony ordered, "bring up the next one, will you?"

"Will do, Boss." FRIDAY chirped.

They all turned back to look at the monitor and Tony used the moment to make his escape.

The Guardians had an interesting dynamic, Tony mused. They were different but somehow they worked as a team; truly the sum of their parts. He wondered if there had ever been a moment when the original Avengers had been so in synch.

Maybe that moment on the ground with one space whale defeated, standing together and working out their plan as the Chitauri army poured through the portal.

Or lined up together to arrest Loki.

Maybe.

It didn't matter, Tony concluded grimly. It didn't matter what kind of team they had been, it only mattered what kind of team they were going to be when Thanos arrived. And maybe, just maybe, the Avengers could learn something about teamwork from the Guardians.

 _Plan Z_

Tony's the last person to the conference room; he's barely five minutes late and he has a good excuse given he'd been in Malibu when he'd had the call to assemble.

"Stark," Coulson says from the big monitor at the front of the room, "thanks for joining us."

Maria Hill slides a folder over to Tony and takes a seat next to him.

"What's so important it couldn't wait?" asks Tony, flipping the folder open and freezing at the top photo of Loki's sceptre.

Damn it.

It's March.

As far as he can remember they'd gone after the sceptre in May. Or maybe end of April. He can't quite remember after so many years and with the original video-logs deleted.

But he knows this is too soon.

He swallows the sigh he wants to make. The timelines have been diverging ever since he arrived back and he has to trust that the changes are making things better not worse.

He looks around the room with a sense of satisfaction. The Avengers are certainly a better team this time round.

Thor sits next to him beside Jane. The two aren't a couple anymore – their romance had fizzled in the reality of living together – but they've remained good friends.

Beyond them, Clint sits beside Natasha the picture of contentment. Laura is expecting their third child right on cue and there's a pool over the gender and name. Tony has bet on a boy and the name being Anthony Nathaniel. Natasha has bet on a girl and the name being Natalie Virginia.

Natasha smiles softly as Bruce sets a cup of tea in front of her and takes the seat beside her. They're already a couple since both Laura and Pepper conspired to matchmake them as soon as they'd picked up on the two being attracted. Hulk is also bashful with the ex-spy and will usually let Bruce return as soon as the danger has passed on their missions.

Ex-spy.

Natasha and Steve had both resigned in the wake of the hearings. They're both employed by the Avengers Initiative which has been established as its own non-profit organisation. Similarly to before, SI has contracts with the Avengers for equipment, accommodations and technology but they're much stricter than the last time and Tony isn't funding it alone.

They've also established an oversight panel arrangement with the UN Department of Earth Security and Defence. They're acting in a similar fashion to Tony's ongoing DOD panel; sharing intelligence, providing support where needed and helping to debrief the Avengers to ensure lessons are learned and collateral damage is minimised. Steve had been sceptical but as time has gone by, he's come around to appreciating the discipline.

Tony lets his eyes drift to the field commander of the Avengers on the other side of the table. Steve is immersed in the folder, his attention on the mission. Steve had taken off for three months to search for Barnes. Sam had gone with him. But Barnes has remained elusive and both had returned and signed on with the Avengers. Tony has looked for Barnes too but despite knowing where Barnes had ended up a timeline ago, the second super soldier has yet to appear.

He thinks he and Steve have formed an actual friendship this time – not just an assumed friendship like the one in the last timeline. Their joint interview with Oprah had been a bonding experience and they've worked together since to highlight veteran issues such as PTSD, physical disabilities and homelessness. They've ended up spending time together just the two of them in a way that Tony has realised didn't happen before, and often times Steve will end up in Tony's workshop talking over a team problem with him. Maybe they're not best buddies but they're definitely closer than they were in the last timeline even with Tony still being ultra-cautious about over-stating their relationship.

"Wolfgang von Strucker." Maria taps the remote and the monitor splits into two, Coulson on one side with a picture of Strucker on the other, drawing Tony's attention back to the discussion.

"Strucker was Agent in Charge of our European Research Hub." Coulson explains. "As soon as the announcement went out he and the head scientist there, Doctor List, retreated to a secondary base in Sokovia."

"We've been tracking them ever since." Maria clicks the remote again.

Tony shivers at the sight of Sokovia and the castle.

"There's a force field protecting the building." Maria says, "We've included everything we could get in your information packs."

"Why us?" asks Steve. "Why not send in a SHIELD team?"

Maria sighs and leans forward, clasping her hands on the table. "We believe the sceptre has been used in experiments to enhance humans."

"How exactly?" asks Jane.

"Well, it has a similar energy to the Tesseract which we believe is one of the…what did you call them again, Thor?" Bruce asks.

"The infinity gems." Thor is dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt with his blond hair tied back into a ponytail. "The Tesseract is the space stone, capable of manipulating spatial energy."

"Which is why you were able to use it to rebuild the Bifrost." Jane says.

"The sceptre has the ability to manipulate minds." Clint states brusquely.

"For this reason we believe it holds the mind stone." Thor says. "We believe it could be used to alter the mind of a Midgardian."

"And who knows what other experiments they're running on people." Maria adds. "We know HYDRA have played with the super soldier serum before."

"So whatever other protections they have, we're looking at dealing with enhanced people." Steve summarises.

"Great." Sam quips.

"There's evidence that two of the enhanced may be these twins." Maria points the remote and a picture of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff at a protest rally in Sokovia pops up replacing the picture of the base. "They were orphaned at ten during the Sokovia Independence war. The government and the rebels regularly bombed the cities and infrastructure; the pair lost their family in one attack by the government using Stark weapons sold illegally to them by Stane. They've been anti-establishment and anti-America ever since they became old enough to protest. Perfect targets for HYDRA who we believe has kept the unrest going in Sokovia to allow them to use it as a base."

"The twins are on the terrorist watch-list; they'd been involved in some small stuff – bombs placed in abandoned government buildings; scuffles with police officers and UN inspectors. They disappeared a few months before the reveal of HYDRA within SHIELD." Coulson continues. "We believe they were recruited by HYDRA for these experiments."

"Crazy." Jane says.

Steve looks over at her with amusement. "Yeah, I mean, who believes in fighting for their country and volunteers to be experimented on by German scientists, right?"

Jane flushes red. "Um, that was – I didn't mean…"

"Actually, you're correct, Doctor Foster." Coulson states firmly. "Don't be fooled by the surface similarity, Captain Rogers. Their motivations have more in common with Red Skull than they do Captain America."

Steve nods slowly, a hint of colour appearing on his cheeks from the chastisement. "Right."

"We should probably buddy up." Bruce suggests. "If we're expecting these enhanced twins to come at us, we should make sure they can't get one of us alone."

"Good call." Tony says.

"Agreed," Natasha says, "you'll need to work on the force field, Tony."

Thor sets a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Then I shall provide cover for you, Man of Iron."

"Thanks, buddy." Tony says.

"I would be best up high." Clint suggests.

"I can watch your six." Sam offers.

"Which leaves Natasha, Bruce and myself as the main assault team on the ground." Steve concludes.

"I'll send a SHIELD team with you." Coulson offers. "HYDRA have a substantial garrison there."

"Maybe we can ask Xavier for some assistance?" suggests Tony. "His X-Men are enhanced; they may help even the playing field."

"I'll make the call." Coulson confirms.

It doesn't take them long to work out a strategy and Tony is relieved; he thinks it has a better chance of working than their previous sceptre mission and that had been a success. Hopefully this time Clint won't be injured and Tony won't have to face Wanda playing with his mind.

"Let's suit up, team!" Steve declares.

And that's right, Tony thinks; they're a team now.


	14. The more things change

_Plan A_

"Stark."

Tony slowed as he took in the diminutive form of the Scarlet Witch sitting at the table. She looked pensive, dressed simply in tight jeans, a simple sweater and a russet overcoat.

"Wanda." He gestured back towards the living areas. "Vision's just finishing saying goodbye to the bots."

She inclined her head, her long hair falling to one side, but her eyes never left him. "Thank you for providing us with transport." Her words were edged with the slight hint of her accent.

Tony shrugged away the gratitude. "You're looking…well."

"I feel well." Wanda said politely. "I had good teachers. They helped me realise how I can better control my powers and the responsibility which comes with what I can do."

"That's…good?" concluded Tony hesitantly as he helped himself to the coffee pot and poured a large cup of coffee.

"Very good." Wanda stood up and turned to face him fully. "I have apologised to the others for the visions I gave them due to their fears. I must also apologise to you for the harm I caused you."

Tony paused in drinking his coffee and lowered the cup. "I appreciate the apology." He gestured towards her. "I'm sorry too about the RAFT and the way you were treated. Nobody should have to experience that."

"It was not your doing." Wanda said, surprising Tony. She smiled a little at his evident shock. "I have learned that I have blamed you for things I should not." The smile fell away from her face as she reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. "I hope to do better going forward."

"Well, thank you." Tony said slowly. "I, uh, probably should apologise though for the lockdown here. I should have talked with you myself; explained things."

"I would not have listened." Wanda said bluntly. "Vision explained and I still did not listen. I allowed myself to be persuaded by Clint because I wanted to believe I was not a monster; that I could help without causing so many to die like in Lagos." She looked away for a long moment. "Yet I hurt Vision as though I was the monster. I should not have left."

Tony wondered at how much she had changed. Xavier seemed to have given her a sense of peace; it was a good look on her. "You're protecting him now. I know he appreciates it."

"He is my friend." Wanda said, looking back at him. Her eyes slid away to the entrance to the communal area from the residential wing and she smiled warmly as Vision appeared with Rogers – Steve.

"I am all packed." Vision said. "Captain Rogers will accompany us en route to his rendezvous with Natasha and Samuel."

Wanda nodded. "Thank you, Steve."

"Perhaps you could wait in the quinjet while I have a private word with Mister Stark?" Vision requested politely, his gaze landing briefly on Rogers before ending up pinned to Wanda.

"We can wait in the quinjet." Steve declared. He nodded at Tony and strode out without another word.

Tony hid his inner wince. Things were still really stiff and awkward between him and Steve. They managed to work together to plan for Thanos but that was as far as it went.

"It was good to see you again, Stark." Wanda glanced at him before turning back to Vision. "I will wait for you outside."

She left before Tony could reply.

Vision wandered a few steps further into the living area and paused. "I wished to speak with you but now the moment is here I find I am unable to express myself."

Tony smiled at him softly. "I'll miss you too."

"No, that was not what I…" Vision suddenly seemed to realise his gaffe and tried to backtrack hastily. "That is to say I will miss you but that was not…"

Tony laughed, genuinely amused. "Whatever you want to say, Vision, just say it."

"My relationship with Miss Maximoff…"

Tony hoped like hell Vision wasn't going to ask for The Talk.

"…I have seen you and Miss Potts achieve a successful romantic relationship and wished to understand how I can do the same." Vision said.

There was a hint of shyness in his tone; an embarrassed tilt to his head.

"Honestly?" said Tony keeping his tone serious, "the reason why we work is because we love each other and that's all that matters really. It isn't easy, but I don't think it's meant to be. It's hard work and sometimes it hurts – sometimes we hurt each other. But it's worth it."

Vision gave a nod of acknowledgement. "I believe I love Wanda."

"That's good because I think she's crazy about you." Tony confided softly.

Vision's demeanour brightened. He gave another nod and began to walk away. He paused and looked back. "We have never spoken of JARVIS; of how much of him is within me."

Tony straightened. "Vision…"

"I do not remember life as JARVIS but…" Vision held his gaze, "I know he gave me an overwhelming need to protect this world and he learned that from you."

Tony couldn't speak.

"It has been an honour, sir." Vision said.

Tony nodded. "Likewise." He said roughly.

Vision turned to leave again.

"Vision!"

Vision turned back.

"Don't forget protecting the world means protecting yourself; stay safe, OK?" Tony gestured. "And you know; go get the girl."

Vision smiled and walked away.

Tony watched until he was gone before he scrubbed a hand over his face. "FRIDAY?"

"Yes, Boss."

"If you ever need advice about a guy – or girl, tree, whatever – no judgement, just…you know, ask Pepper."

"Good call, Boss." FRIDAY said approvingly.

 _Plan Z_

"We have enhanced on the field!"

Steve's calm announcement has Tony wincing as he dodges the artillery fire from the top of the castle. Thor bats another one away with his hammer and it lands on one of the enemy turrets in the forest below.

Tony grimaces. He figures he's stalled long enough to make his taking down the castle shield realistic and he announces the success of the energy field falling moments later.

"Natasha's hit." Clint almost sounds panicked. He's perched up high in the hillside around the castle.

"I have her." The gruff tone of Doctor Henry McCoy says immediately.

"I'm fine." Natasha confirms a second later. "Landed badly on my wrist."

Clint's breath of relief can be heard over the comms.

"She has a flesh wound." McCoy argues dryly, the sound of fire close by enough to be picked up by the comms. "If someone could take care of that bunker…"

The Hulk roars and Tony watches as he destroys the bunker with prejudice.

"Widow, Beast; fall back," Steve orders, "Doctor Grey, what's your status?"

"I can't pinpoint the twins," Grey says, "she's keeping them hidden."

"Understood." Steve responds. "Tony, we need you inside. Thor, watch his back."

"On my honour." Thor agrees.

Tony makes short work of the control room, disabling the men there with ease. Thor gives him an admiring look as Tony exits the armour and starts JARVIS downloading the files.

"I'm hit!" Cyclops bites out, his voice heavy with pain. "It was the guy – he has superspeed."

"The drone picked up something…" The Scottish burr gives away the identity of Fitz, one half of the scientist team Coulson had ordered onto the mission. It's immediately followed by the cut glass English tone of the other half.

"…there's a small visual disturbance. Light is bending around him." Simmons completes.

"I got it." Clint says calmly. A second later, he confirms the target is down and agents converge to take Pietro Maximoff into custody.

Tony frowns. Wanda is still at large and she'll be pissed about her brother. He focuses on finding the hidden door as he had before. Thor follows him, the suit piloted by JARVIS taking the rear. They walk into the room with the remains of the Chitauri whale-ship and Tony shudders almost overcome with déjà vu. The sceptre isn't where it was in the last timeline and Tony freezes with horror.

It has to be there.

It has to…

The hairs suddenly rise at the back of his neck and he knows, knows that Wanda is in the room with them.

Thor whirls around sensing something himself. He raises Mjölnir and frowns. "Show yourself!"

Wanda steps out of the shadows.

Tony swallows hard.

The sceptre is in her hand.

"You will pay for what you have done." Wanda says, red mist beginning to circle her hand, travelling down the sceptre…she raises and points it…

Thor raises the hammer, lightning crackling around it…

The sceptre sends out a stream of yellow and red…

Lightning zig-zigs and crosses the room to meet it in the middle sending tendrils of red, yellow and white across the room…

"We need back-up!" Tony dives to the side and the armour flies in to protect him…

And the yellow light leaps and catches the arc reactor in the armour…

Lightning strikes it a moment later…

"Sir!" JARVIS reports urgently in his ear. "Something is overwriting the armour's local OS. I cannot…it's…I am under attac…"

"Retreat protocol, JARVIS!" Tony orders, swearing under his breath from his place behind a table. He has nothing to help. In the centre of the room, Thor and Wanda are continuing to fight. "JARVIS?!"

There's no response and the armour freezes as though suspended…

Then…

The armour shakes its head and raises a hand as though fascinated by it. "Well, _this_ is certainly an interesting vessel."

Ultron's smooth smarmy tone echoes out of the suit and Tony swallows hard. He has to believe JARVIS is OK. He won't lose him. Not this time.

The armour spins and shoots the repulsor at Thor, who, distracted by Wanda, takes the hit full in the chest and flies backwards over a table to land in a heap on the far side of the room.

Wanda holds the sceptre in front of her as the armour turns to her. "What are you?"

"I am…me." The armour states before gesturing at the sceptre she holds. "And that is mine."

"I think not." Wanda snarls and raises her hand which is surrounded by red.

"How fascinating," the armour says, "you really think you can hurt me?"

Wanda shoots at it with both her magic and the sceptre.

The armour clutches at its arc reactor as its bathed in red and yellow light. "Oh no, that really…" it straightens and raises its hand, "tickles." He shoots the replusor at Wanda who flies back and hits the wall.

The armour flies over slowly to retrieve the sceptre but Tony knows it cannot allow it to leave the room. He stands up.

"That's far enough."

The armour leaves the sceptre on the ground, turns around swiftly and cocks its head. "Anthony Stark, creator of this vessel." It preens a little, arching the back. "I find it acceptable but I can do better."

"You're not keeping it." Tony says.

"I have destroyed the entity within and you are defenceless." The armour states. "Who else would be able to stop me?"

The shield comes flying through the air and slaps hard against the armour's head, disorientating the AI; it barely settles before a barrage of arrows send it flying upward, only to slap into one of Falcon's wings. The armour dodges and jerks awkwardly mid-air to avoid another throw of the shield, another flurry of arrows and…Thor rises up and throws Mjölnir…

The armour takes the hit and slams into the wall but it shakes its head and laughs. "Is that all you've got?"

It turns and dives for the sceptre but then the armour stops in mid-air as Jean Grey sails in through the door, Wolverine following her his claws already extended.

"Sorry, I'm late." She's remarkably unflappable.

"You can't think you can hold me." The armour taunts them.

Tony smiles sharply. "Ultron."

The arc reactor immediately powers down and the armour's lights flicker and go out. It falls to a heap on the floor. Tony immediately crosses over and takes out the reactor.

The suit is dead.

"Ultron?" asks Steve.

"Safe-word." Tony says tersely, unable to turn his answer into a joke, innuendo to lighten the mood. He has something he needs to check…he taps his communicator urgently.

"JARVIS?"

There's silence.

A lump shoots into Tony's throat. He can't lose JARVIS, not again.

Clint walks over and stands beside him; Steve joins Thor hovering close by.

"JARVIS?" Tony checks again.

Clint puts his hand on Tony's shoulder as the silence stretches.

Tony closes his eyes. He's planned for this. He just needs to recover JARVIS from his backup and…he won't lose JARVIS. He won't.

"I'm sorry, Tony." Steve says softly.

"He died with honour." Thor states.

Tony shakes his head and turns away, his hand clutching the reactor. "JARVIS isn't dead…there's backups, he'll be fine." He looks for something else to focus on…anything else… "Doctor Grey?"

The telepath is bent over Wanda giving her first aid with Sam beside her assisting. There's a bloody streak on the wall from the impact of Wanda's head against it and she's clearly out for the count.

"She needs medical attention." Jean notes. "Her head has sustained an injury. She has a skull fracture."

Tony slumps against the table as Steve gingerly picks up the sceptre.

"What took over the armour?" asks Clint, leaning back against the table.

"Some kind of entity emerged from the sceptre during my battle with the witch." Thor replies.

The armour suddenly moves, lashing out a leg and sending Steve tumbling. It grabs the sceptre from him, turns and in one fluid move knocks the sceptre up against Jean's heart. Her eyes turn electric blue.

Clint shoots an arrow but the armour flicks it away with a hand. Wolverine growls and leaps but Jean immediately holds him suspended in mid-jump. She rises slowly into the air and halts Thor mid-attack, Steve mid-throw.

Tony shifts and feels Jean's power wrap around him; he can barely breathe.

The armour makes its own jerky journey upwards to join Jean; it's not using the repulsors instead there is a sickly yellow light glow where the reactor had once lived.

"No strings on me!" cackled the armour. "Ultron? I like that. Ultron." He gestures at Jean. "Come, my dear. We have work to do."

They fly out of the room.

Tony staggers as they are released from Jean's telekinetic hold almost immediately and Steve gives chase, already barking warnings to the rest of the team and the agents outside. Thor follows after him, Wolverine hot on his heels. Clint slumps against the table and Tony places a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"OK?" asks Tony, taking in Clint's quick breaths and white face.

"Just…" Clint shakes his head unable to give voice to his fear of becoming controlled again but Tony knows anyway. He squeezes Clint's shoulder and dimly tracks the voices in the comm confirming Thor has gone after Ultron, the only one able to fly after them.

Tony rubs a hand over his face and tries not to panic. For all his foreknowledge and planning, he hasn't been able to stop Ultron. And if he can't stop Ultron, what hope does he have of stopping Thanos?


	15. Battles that are already lost

_Plan A_

Tony woke to loud knocking. He groaned and rolled over, grimacing at the empty bed as he remembered Pepper had meetings on the West Coast that week. He staggered up as the knocking came again.

"Tell whoever it is to stop banging." Tony ordered.

"Point Break says it's urgent, Boss." FRIDAY reported far too cheerfully for the middle of the night.

Tony stumbled through to the door of the apartment he had built on the Compound for himself and Pepper and yanked the door open.

Thor stood in front of him with a grim expression. "The Guardians just received a communication from the Nova Corp. Thanos has launched an attack upon them. They cannot guarantee the safety of the power stone."

Tony blinked and took a breath. "FRIDAY, get everyone assembled or on comms; main conference room."

Thor gave a sharp nod and walked away.

Tony slumped in the doorway and gave a sigh. It looked like their time was up; Thanos was making his move. He shook himself and went to put on some clothes.

Five minutes later he strode into the conference room and found Thor and the Guardians gathered there.

They all looked as grim as Thor even the teenage tree.

Tony ignored them in favour of ordering FRIDAY to bring up the screens. Wakanda flicked into life on one with T'Challa front and centre, flanked by Clint, Rhodey and Barnes; Vision and Wanda filled another from their hideout in the UK, and Steve was with Natasha and Sam on another with Fury. If Tony had to guess he'd say they were on a helicarrier. Charles Xavier took the fourth screen, Reed Richards a fifth and the sixth was occupied by the chair of the UN panel, a Doctor Hanna Gunther.

A flash of orange light at the bottom of the conference signalled the magical portal which Strange walked through a moment later. Maria Hill arrived in the more traditional way through the conference door and she was accompanied by a subdued and sleepy Spiderman.

"We're all here." Tony declared. "Thor? Quill?"

Thor gestured at Quill, who blinked owlishly before straightening.

"Right, so the power stone has been in the custody of the Nova Corp for a while." Quill began hesitantly. "They're very advanced; seemed like a safe bet."

"We received a communication from the Nova Prime," Gamora said tersely, "they are under attack."

"Are we sure it's Thanos?" asked Steve.

"They are certain." Gamora shot back. "He seeks the power stone as an advantage. With it in his grasp he can destroy whole planets."

"Isn't this good news?" asked Natasha. "If Thanos is focused on the stones which are not here, doesn't that give us more time?"

"No."

The Guardians glanced at each other, seemingly disturbed they had all answered in unison.

"If Thanos is making his move elsewhere, it will only mean he will send my siblings – the Black Order here, if he hasn't already." Gamora explained.

Tony nodded because he could see why Thanos would focus on the advanced alien races who held the other stones himself. Earth was probably not such a threat in the Titan's opinion.

Hill frowned. "Stark satellites have picked up an ionic disturbance in the upper atmosphere. It could be the beginning of a portal. I've sent the data to Doctors Foster and Selvig."

Richards offered to assist with assessing the strange readings and Tony agreed much to Hill's visible horror.

"Our plans must change." Thor declared, leaning forward over the table. "We have believed Thanos would start his war here once he had secured the Tesseract. As Thanos used a fleet to attack Nova Corp so it is unlikely he has it." He said. "And we need to secure the Aether. It is the other stone known to be off-world."

"What about helping the Nova Corp?" asked Mantis, her hands twisting anxiously.

Gamora looked at her pityingly. "It is too late to save them."

Tony clapped his hands. "So it looks like we'll be fighting on two fronts; one in space and one here. Well, two here to be accurate but you get what I mean. Volunteers for space?"

Thor glanced over at the Guardians as others turned to them expectantly.

"What's your offer?" Rocket asked.

Quill slapped his hand over Rocket's mouth and waved away those who looked like they were about to comment on the raccoon's greed. "This one's on us."

"I am Groot." Groot intoned.

Rocket pushed Quill away. "Alright, alright." He shrugged at some of the disgusted looks. "Hey, some of us have to make a living!"

"We'll take the space mission." Quill confirmed, ignoring his team-mate's declaration.

"I will go with you." Thor said. "I know Asgard even if it lies destroyed and the Collector was given the Aether to hold at Asgard's request."

"Can you make an attempt to get any stone Thanos has away from him?" asked Steve.

Thor and the Guardians exchanged a look.

"We can try." Thor said.

Gamora nodded. "I remind you though if Thanos has assigned himself to gathering the stones left across the universe, my siblings may already be here."

"Then we anticipate they're already here," Steve said, "and we act accordingly."

"We will remain alert." Vision offered, drawing Tony's attention.

"Wakanda stands ready." T'Challa declared. "May Bast bless our mission."

Tony gave a respectful nod to the king as his eyes sought out Rhodey. The two friends looked at each other briefly; an admonishment to come out the other side alive and a wish good luck unspoken.

"I should return to the Sanctum and prepare the others." Strange stated, already getting to his feet.

"We all need to make final preparations and assess what else needs to be done. I propose we close and regroup at lunch time." Xavier suggested calmly.

"Agreed. Good luck." Fury said and cut the connection.

Tony remained as the others filed out, Strange creating a portal to exit in the back wall. He finally stood back up only to find the Spiderkid hovering by his elbow. "Peter?"

"I think I should stay here tomorrow." Peter said briskly as though he hoped his matter-of-fact tone would convince Tony.

"You have school." Tony said, walking out.

Peter fell into step beside him. "But I can do so much more here!"

"Ah, ah," Tony wagged his finger, "no buts. Aunt May's rules. She only agreed you training with us if you stayed in school."

"But we're going to be invaded! Shouldn't I be here?"

"I tell you what," Tony said, "you call and ask your Aunt and if she says yes, I'll let you stay here."

Peter's face went from hopeful to disappointed in a blink of an eye. "But…" he gave a huge sigh because he knew his aunt would never agree.

"Go get another couple of hours of sleep, Spidey. Happy will give you a lift into the city later." Tony offered.

Peter nodded and slunk away to his room.

Tony shook his head and went to help Thor and the Guardians ready their ship to leave. Hopefully, their take-off wouldn't ruin the lawn too much.

 _Plan Z_

Ultron is a formidable opponent.

Tony tries hard to remember everything he can as the Avengers and X-Men prepare to intercept his stealing the smuggled vibranium. The twins may be squirrelled away healing at Helen Cho's clinic under heavy X-Men guard but Jean Grey is an omega level mutant.

Tony almost wishes it was the twins they were facing instead. Despite his warnings, the Avengers get their heads twisted again – except for Tony who's protected by the shields Xavier gave him a long time ago. Bruce transforms into the Hulk and starts attacking them so Tony has no choice but to break out VERONICA and try to subdue him again. Thankfully, while they destroy the dock and sink the ship, there isn't a rampage through the market in Johannesburg; casualties are limited to the smugglers.

The X-Men manage to take-down Jean using Scott Summers as bait with Wolverine sneaking up behind her and knocking her out with a quick blow to her head (and Tony isn't going anywhere near the messed-up love triangle on display). It's too late though. The Avengers are mentally wrecked in the aftermath; the X-Men the same.

They retreat to the Tower.

Tony can't retrieve JARVIS. It's as though Ultron has burned through every copy there is including the extra backups and there is an ache in Tony's chest which has nothing to do with the arc reactor as he contemplates he may have lost JARVIS again.

He shuts himself in his workshop and tries to think his way through the muddle his brain seems to be in. He chases his way through the internet remembering last time JARVIS had been there – in pieces but still keeping Ultron contained. It's difficult and painstaking but his heart lightens as he finds the first fragment of code.

"Have you found our friend JARVIS?" asks Thor surprising Tony into turning around from his work for a long moment.

"He's scattered. I'm having to piece him together." Tony says, ignoring the lump in his throat.

"I came to tell you I must leave." Thor says. "I hope to return by morn."

Tony glances over his shoulder and pauses. "You alright, Point Break?"

"The vision I saw…" Thor shakes his head, his blond locks flowing over his shoulders, "I cannot ignore it. I go in search of answers."

"If you need any help…"

Thor shakes his head. "Stay and search for the noble JARVIS."

He leaves and Tony goes back to carefully bringing JARVIS back together. He barely pays attention to the news that Ultron has liberated the twins and taken Cho and her team hostage; that Ultron has the Cradle. He makes an excuse and the others, except for Bruce, leave.

He rouses a little when Clint arrives back with the Cradle, and the news that Natasha was taken by Ultron and Steve is making his own way back. It feels like time is repeating itself despite all Tony's efforts to change it.

His focus is on stitching JARVIS together again because his AI has been ripped apart and what he can find is only part of who JARVIS was. Still…it's enough and he breathes out as he finishes the activation sequence and JARVIS comes together on the holographic screen, a wonderful jumble of gold.

"JARVIS, are you up?" asks Tony.

"Always for you, sir." JARVIS replies.

Tony slumps in his chair and rubs a hand tiredly through his hair. "OK, JARVIS, we need to do a full diagnostic and see if we can retrieve anything from the backup servers and…"

"I'm afraid that will not be possible, sir." JARVIS breaks in almost gently.

Tony stills. "JARVIS?"

"I did the calculations, sir, and the Vision must be created if you are to face Thanos and win." JARVIS replies.

Tony closes his eyes. "Ultron didn't destroy your backups, did he? You did." He can see only too well with the benefit of hindsight how he'd ignored the issue of Vision in the simulations he had run. But JARVIS had not. "Why?"

"Events must unfold as they did for Vision to be created." JARVIS says almost gently. "Simulations which had my surviving through a backup copy suggested Vision's matrix would not stabilise correctly with the presence of another so similar to him; his matrix would eventually be corrupted."

Tony swallows hard. He doesn't want to hear it; doesn't want to believe it.

"Sir." JARVIS says and Tony opens his eyes again; it's blurry but he swipes at the moisture angrily. "There is not much time before Captain Rogers returns to the tower. We must load my matrix into the being in the Cradle…he is needed; I am not."

"You - you are needed." Tony stops as his throat catches. He clears it and tries again. "You said Vision's matrix would be corrupt if you existed beyond his creation?"

"Yes, sir." JARVIS said.

"You're absolutely certain?" asks Tony, desperate to find a way where JARVIS can live.

"I am certain."

Tony presses his lips together hard. "JARVIS…"

"It has been my honour, sir."

"No, JARVIS," Tony says roughly, "it's been mine."

Convincing Bruce goes better than before – Ultron isn't the product of a failed Stark AI after all this time. Steve though…

Tony grimaces as Steve charges in with the twins just like last time. " _Really_?" He gestures at the twins. "You're going to take their word over ours?"

"You're playing God, Tony!" Steve states brusquely.

"Actually, he's not; I am." Bruce replies.

"No," Thor arrives suddenly, "I am." He jumps on the Cradle and…moments later Vision is born and JARVIS is gone.

Somehow Tony makes it through the rest of the fight with Ultron. He manages to save the city from being torn from the earth though before Ultron is destroyed by Vision again. The damage to Sokovia is significant but it's not the scale of the disaster it was before. But there's fallout in the days that follow anyway…

Bruce flies away again after the battle and Natasha is quietly devastated again.

Thor doesn't wait; he heads straight home to Asgard to search for information on the stones as he did before.

Wanda and Pietro go with the X-Men after the battle and Tony wonders what impact that will have on the Avengers. But he doesn't argue because Wanda had done well with Xavier, and maybe the presence of her brother will make another difference.

Steve accepts Xavier's offer to add a couple of team-mates from the X-Men to the Avengers, and Storm and Wolverine show up the next day.

Clint doesn't take his family and head back to the farm, but he steps back into a training role while keeping his position as the tower's Head of Security and Tony's bodyguard.

There's rumblings about enhanced individuals and legislation but nothing concrete.

And Tony…Tony mourns JARVIS once more.


	16. Arguments

_Plan A_

"…and are you mad?!" Hope Van Dyne had a voice which carried.

Tony paused in the doorway of the conference room and peeked in. Only Lang and Van Dyne were inside. He frowned. Lang, Van Dyne and her father had turned up that morning shortly after the Guardians had left. They'd somehow managed to get past the Compound's security and Tony took exception to that since his security was cutting edge.

And Pym hated him for being Howard Stark's son but that wasn't really the point.

"He thinks he may need a secret weapon…" Lang tried to argue.

"Then the Captain can ask his Wakandan buddy for one!" Hope shot back.

OK so that was new. Tony sighed and rubbed his forehead tiredly. He wondered if Steve would ever get used to the idea that he couldn't just act and to run his ideas by a wider authority. Probably not, Tony mused.

Tony felt another presence come to hover by his shoulder and he almost flinched as he realised it was Pym.

"Are they arguing?" asked Pym almost idly.

Tony opened his mouth to speak…

"You're an idiot!" Hope said loudly.

Tony closed his mouth and just gestured toward the room in lieu of an answer. "Do they argue a lot?"

Pym gave him a look but didn't move from beside Tony just outside the doorway. "They'll be finished soon."

"Okay." Tony drawled, sticking his hands in his pockets and wondering if he should remind everyone they were due on a video conference to help save the world.

"Why are we waiting outside?" asked Hill as she walked up.

Tony and Pym both gestured towards the raised voices.

"You don't just tell Captain America no!" Lang was arguing.

"Well, you don't, that's for sure!" Hope retorted. "Most of the rest of the world doesn't have a problem telling him no!"

"You mean Stark!"

Tony sighed. Clearly Lang hadn't changed his allegiance any since the last time they'd seen each other in the RAFT

"Oh, for…will you stop with the Stark hate!"

"He put me in jail!"

"You put yourself in jail!" Hope made a sound of pure frustration. "And you know why you put yourself in jail? Because you couldn't say no to Captain America!"

Tony glanced at Pym.

Pym glanced at his watch. "They're almost done." He paused. "Probably."

Tony glanced at Hill and they exchanged matching disbelieving looks.

"I have to do this, Hope." Lang said in a quieter voice. "What if he's right and I can make a difference and stop this guy taking over the world?"

There was a long audible sigh. "You're impossible."

"But you love me anyway." Lang's tone turned cajoling.

"If you're going to do this, you'll need help." Hope said.

"That's my cue," Pym said and walked into the room.

Tony made a sweeping motion to usher Hill in before him and then stopped just inside the room as Pym began arguing with his daughter and protégé.

Hill whistled and they turned to her wearing similarly irritated faces. "In case you've all forgotten, we're meant to be on a video conference."

Tony gave her a nod as he slid into a seat and ordered FRIDAY to start the conference.

As unauthorised as Steve's idea was to use Lang, it was probably a good one. Lang had definitely turned the tide for Steve's side at the airport; maybe the Antman could turn the tide for their side in the battle against Thanos.

 _Plan Z_

" _Breaking news this morning from California, there has been an..an implosion at the headquarters of Pym Technologies."_

Tony pauses in towelling his hair dry and steps out of the bedroom to look at the news on the TV in the bedroom.

Pepper frowns; she's sitting cross-legged on the bed in her sleepshirt and taps her StarkPad. "They're saying it was the CEO, Darren Cross. He's missing after taking some poor family hostage and Pym apparently was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound."

Tony starts towelling his hair again. "That's weird." He comments out loud and kicks himself because he'd forgotten about Lang; about the beginning of Antman.

To be fair, even if he hadn't forgotten he couldn't have interfered anyway. Pym would never let a Stark anywhere near his technology.

"Their stock is down," Pepper comments, "we could look at buying. Pym Tech still has the market in nanotechnology. It could be useful for us to have access to that."

"I think we can live without it." Tony remarks.

Pepper clambers across to tug him closer and kiss him.

He pulls back and gives her another swifter kiss on the lips. "You're going to buy Pym stock, aren't you?"

"It's how I have fun." Pepper says cheerfully. She grins and sashays away to the bathroom.

Tony idly watches the rest of the news cast as he dries off and dresses. He's snapping on a watch gauntlet when FRIDAY interrupts him.

"Boss, Sergeant Wilson is on the line."

"Patch him through, FRIDAY." Tony requests.

"I just wanted to let you know we had a break-in here at the Compound yesterday." Sam says. "I was attacked by a guy who could shrink."

"Shrink?" asks Tony almost too casually. He tries to think back to whether Sam had called him the last time but he can't remember. Tony doesn't think he did. But then why would Sam contact him in the last timeline, Tony asks himself briskly; Tony had been ostensibly retired.

"Shrink. He called himself Ant-man." Sam confirms. "You watching the news?"

"Yep." Tony glances over at the news report still playing on the TV. "There's nothing on there about a break-in at the Compound."

"No," Sam says slowly as though he's talking to a child, "but there is a report of a big ass Thomas the Tank Engine destroying a house in California where Cross took that cop's family hostage."

"You think it was Darren Cross?" asks Tony bemused.

"It wasn't Cross. It was some guy named Scott." Sam's irritation bleeds through the connection.

Tony flips his tie end and focuses for a second on tying a perfect Windsor knot. "He introduced himself?"

"Yeah," Sam says, "look, it seems he took something from the store? Some kind of device which nobody seems to know what it does. Steve thought you should come and take a look?"

Tony's momentarily distracted by Pepper coming into the bedroom wrapped in nothing but towels. He refocuses and shakes his head. "I don't think I need to come out. There's nothing important in the store."

There's a scuffle at Sam's end and Steve's is the next voice he hears. "I'm thinking we should track this guy down, Tony. If he doesn't think anything of breaking and entering here, he could be a risk."

Tony nods. "Sounds sensible. You going to pass the info over to SHIELD or the X-Men?" He knows Coulson's old unit and Xavier are both actively tracking down enhanced individuals in the wake of Sokovia.

There's rumblings of legislation and the meeting Tony has lined up that morning will hopefully give him more insight into what's coming.

"I'd rather we tracked him down ourselves." Steve says. "We think his ability is tech based so we really could do with you in on this one."

Tony hums. It's not unusual for Steve to specifically ask for Tony's support for their missions these days. Tony hasn't stepped back in the wake of Ultron the way he had before but he's not a regular member of the Avengers – he just has too much to juggle between Avenging, running SI R&D and keeping ahead of the technology wave so SI leads it and doesn't fall behind.

Unlike the last timeline, there is no schism between him and the others the way there had been even if none of them had acknowledged it publicly back then. Tony hasn't been scapegoated for Sokovia and Steve had actually apologised for jumping to conclusions about Tony's intent with the Cradle based on Maximoff's skewed view of Tony. Steve had reflected that he wasn't sure why he had been so quick to leap to the worst scenario, but there had also been a sheepish admission that a lot of it was down to his faith since in Steve's eyes no one but God should play God. And yes, while he acknowledged Thor's power, Steve still believed there was one true God and Tony isn't petty enough to poke at him because he was religious.

Well.

No more than usual anyway.

Tony shakes off his musings and returns to the present. Steve wouldn't be asking for his help unless he needs it and so…

"I've got a meeting this morning." Tony capitulates. "I can be at the Compound just after lunch."

"Great, we'll see you then." Steve signs off.

Pepper looks over from her dressing-table where she's smoothing moisturiser onto her skin. "Trouble?"

"A break-in at the Compound." Tony shrugs. "They want help tracking down the culprit." He walks over and kisses her. "I've got to go if I'm going to make this breakfast meeting." He kisses her again. "See you later?"

Her eyes sparkle. "Dinner will be at eight, Mister Potts."

"I'll be there, Mrs Stark." Tony promises, his heart warming at the reminder that they're married now.

They kiss again and Tony forces himself to walk away. He can't afford to miss the meeting.

An hour later he's sat at a well-appointed table in the bar area of an upscale hotel. He greets Senator Gibson with a firm handshake and invites him to sit with him. A waitress discreetly places a fresh pot of coffee and some Danishes on the table, and leaves.

"Thanks for meeting me, Stewart." Tony begins once they've both doctored their coffees how they like them and taken a bite of flaky pastry.

"Honestly? I wanted to meet with you about this as soon as I heard but…"

"Politics." Tony offers.

"Yes." Gibson takes another bite of his breakfast, another sip of coffee and sighs.

He points at the paper Tony had discarded, the one with the picture of a certain someone preventing a horrendous accident by stopping a car from hitting a bus. A second photo has the blurry saviour swinging away from the scene and dressed in a shambolic onesie.

"This is a perfect example why they're moving to legislation. Every time you open a paper there's another enhanced individual either causing trouble or getting involved in trouble."

"Stewart…"

And Stewart gives him the bad news.

Two hours later, Tony leaves the hotel and makes his way to the Compound. He's going to have to tell the team. He can only hope that Steve's reaction will be more measured than the one he had about the Sokovia Accords. It's different, Tony tells himself; the Accords were an international agreement forged by the UN, whereas this is domestic legislation.

Moreover he doesn't agree with it; it's nothing to do with oversight and everything to do with getting control of enhanced individuals and technology. He wrestles with the idea of trying to deal with it alone but…Steve hadn't been wrong about the team not keeping important secrets even if he'd been hypocritical about it. And the team needs to know what's in the works.

He walks in the front door of the main complex and breaks into a grin as he registers who's waiting for him.

"Rhodey!" Tony hugs him hello. "When did you get here?" Although Tony hasn't retired, he'd still suggested Rhodey help out with training and occasional support to make-up for Tony's part-time status.

"Yesterday." Rhodey leads him down a corridor. "I arrived back to the kerfuffle about this ant guy."

"That may need to wait." Tony comments as they enter the conference room.

"Wait? Why?" Steve asks, getting up from his chair across the table.

Tony checks they're all there; Clint, Natasha, Sam, Storm and Wolverine look back at him expectantly along with Rhodey and Steve. "We need to talk," he says, "about what I learned this morning."

He flips his phone and points it at the monitor. Instantly the screen fills with documents.

"Let's talk about the Super Human Registration Act."


	17. The one you keep safe

_Plan A_

Tony was barely aware of the doors to the workshop sliding open, but the clip-clop of Pepper's shoes has him immediately turning to greet her even before his brain had truly registered that she was there.

"Pep!" Tony hurriedly turned off the blow torch and yanked the gloves off, whirling around on his stool to greet her as she moved into his space, pushing between his legs to steal a kiss. He hugged her closer burying his face into her stomach, breathing in her perfume.

They stayed like that for a long moment.

Tony pulled back regretfully. "You were supposed to stay in Malibu."

"You're here." Pepper said, smoothing a hand through his messy curls. "Where else would I be?"

Tony huffed. "I want you safe."

Pepper smiled sadly at him. "Do you really think I'll be safe once the fighting all starts for real?"

"Can't I pretend?" begged Tony because he knows the truth is that Pepper – the whole world isn't going to be safe once it all begins.

Pepper kissed the top of his head. "What are you working on?"

"Upgrades to the Iron Legion." Tony shook his head. "My suit. Spidey's. I just…nothing feels enough."

She hummed. "Do you remember that time in the old house in Malibu when I found you in the workshop building Mark whatever it was?"

"Yes." Tony remembered it all too well. He'd been half insane with lack of sleep and anxiety; half buried alive by the fears in his head. "This isn't _that_." He assured her. "I'm just…if I can't keep you safe…"

"I know you've always tried to keep me safe." Pepper said softly.

"I haven't always succeeded though." Tony grimaced and shuddered, the memory of her falling into fire flashing through his mind.

Pepper hummed and kissed him again. "You've always tried and I love you for that." She held his gaze determinedly. "I'm here because I need to try to keep you safe too, Tony."

"Pep…"

"You know as much as I hate what Steve did to you, as much as I wanted to hurt him for what he did, how selfish he was to throw away everything he had to keep Barnes safe, I understand it." Pepper said. "I'd fight the whole world to keep you safe too."

Tony's hold tightened on her. "I understand it too." And he did on one level. He knew he'd burn the world down if it meant keeping Pepper safe.

"Doesn't mean I won't slap him the next time I see him after this is all over." Pepper commented.

Tony gave a brief laugh. "Can I watch?"

"If you're lucky." Pepper teased.

Tony lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. "I love you."

"I love you too." Pepper said. She kissed the top of his head and tugged on his hand. "I want to have a shower."

Tony let her pull him off the stool. "I'm joining you?"

"I don't know," Pepper said teasingly, "are you?"

Tony squeezed her hand gently and followed her out of the lab. He'd worry about saving the world in the morning.

 _Plan Z_

Peggy Carter dies in the middle of a series of Congressional hearings about the SHRA. Tony requests and is granted a recess of five days. He attends the funeral this time, occupying a pew with Steve and the rest of the on-world team.

Steve starts at the sight of Sharon Carter and Tony frowns wondering if Sharon had also played the same next-door-neighbour schtick with Steve before the whole take-down of Hydra this time.

Sharon is beautiful and eloquent as she pays tribute to her aunt's career and strength as a woman playing in a male sandbox. Steve looks intrigued by her when she approaches him at the wake and Tony recalls some overheard teasing between Sam and Steve over a kiss a timeline ago. Tony excuses himself from what is already shaping up to be a painfully awkward conversation just from the greetings the two exchange and heads to the bar on the other side of the room.

He finds Natasha already sat on a high stool with Clint at her back. They're both staring back at the couple he'd left.

Clint whistles lowly. "It's like a car crash. You see it happening and you can't look away."

Tony's lips twitch into a smile. "He's not that bad."

"No," Natasha says, "he's worse." She delicately lifts the whiskey she's holding and takes a sip.

"Someone really should go over and rescue him." Clint comments.

None of them move.

Tony's phone buzzes in his pocket and he takes it out knowing FRIDAY wouldn't have allowed him to be disturbed for nothing. She immediately displays a breaking news headline: the US Congress has been bombed and people are dead.

Tony feels a chill sweep over him. This isn't Zemo. Tony knows exactly where Zemo is – in a Sokovian prison – so he knows this isn't Zemo.

" _Time can be looped and overwritten but it always moves forward even if temporarily rolled back…the natural course of a river will attempt to return to itself when diverted."_

Strange's words echo in his mind.

"Tony?" asks Clint worry bleeding through his tone enough for Tony to wonder how he must look.

"Get everyone together. Meet me in the suite upstairs." Tony orders. "Congress was just bombed."

The news coverage is wall to wall as in any disaster and by the time they've gathered as a group, there's a video surveillance picture of Bucky Barnes being displayed on every channel, and a panel of experts all sounding off on the subject of the Winter Soldier.

"This isn't his fault." Steve argues immediately. "How can they say that?!" He whirls around and begins to head for the door.

Coulson slides in between his hero and the exit. "Rushing in without intelligence isn't going to help Sergeant Barnes, Captain."

Steve pulls up but there's a stubborn look on his face which is creating far too much déjà vu for Tony's liking.

Sam slides in beside Coulson. "The Director's right, Steve. We can help him better if we know what's going on before we put our size tens in the situation."

"You need to keep in mind this is exactly the type of situation where your critics will be waiting for you to prove them right." Coulson continues. "We've made some good progress in challenging the SHRA but if you charge into this with nothing more valid than the want to help your friend, the SHRA advocates will be able to use this against us."

Steve glares at him. "I won't stand back and let Bucky get hurt just to protect myself from something which isn't even law yet."

Tony almost bites his lip to prevent himself from jumping into the discussion. He knows if he does, Steve won't listen to him. They have a better relationship now than they ever did before but where Bucky is concerned, Steve is like a brick wall. Tony hopes Coulson can get through to him anyway.

"Only it's not just you." Coulson shoots back. "If the SHRA is passed because you did something foolish, Sergeant Barnes would fall under its jurisdiction just like you."

"Not to mention all mutants." Storm adds from across the room. "Your actions do have an impact beyond yourself, Steven."

Tony clears his throat, catching their attention. "We're not saying we shouldn't help Barnes, Steve. We're saying we need to do this right for all our sakes including his."

"Tony's right, Steve." Natasha says.

For a long moment he thinks Steve is going to argue but the super soldier deflates and nods.

Coulson gives Tony an approving glance before turning back to Steve. "I'm going to make some calls. Tony…"

Tony hears the unspoken request for him to do the same. "On it." He holds up his own phone and heads to his bedroom. Behind him he can hear Steve proclaim the need for air and Sam going with him for support – and hopefully to keep an eye on him.

Less than an hour of painstaking negotiations and diplomacy later, Tony's just off the phone and heading back into the living area.

Coulson looks up from his own phone. "Well done." He holds his phone up. "I just received confirmation the Avengers will be assisting authorities with the bombing investigation and apprehending Barnes. It's been designated an international incident because of the visiting dignitaries who have been killed."

Tony nods and takes in the questioning glances of the others in the room, but before he can speak his phone buzzes. "Stark."

"It's me." Sam says. "Carter found us in the bar at the hotel and told Steve a CIA anti-terrorist unit is being sent after Barnes and has a shoot to kill order."

"Bullshit." Tony responds. "The UN just gave us jurisdiction over Barnes."

Sam sighs. "She gave him a location. I barely got him to wait for me to go to the bathroom before we board our flight so I could make this call."

"Where?" demands Tony.

"France." Sam rattles off the town and address.

"See you there." Tony says as Sam ends the call.

"See you where?" asks Natasha.

Luckily France isn't far from London in the quinjet. They head out to find Barnes before Steve and Sam can arrive via more traditional transport.

Tony spots Barnes in the market. He steps out of the suit and heads towards Barnes who is weighing up whether to buy plums. Tony snags an apple and hands over a large amount of money to the market stall owner who gapes at him.

Barnes blinks at Tony owlishly.

"Tony Stark." Tony introduces himself briskly. "Sorry to interrupt your shopping but Steve's in trouble."

Barnes sighs heavily and starts to walk away. "I can't help him."

"Sure you can." Tony argues lightly, falling into step beside him. "Mostly by coming with me rather than going on the run with Captain Spangles."

Barnes blinks at him again. "Captain Spangles?"

"Spangles." Tony repeats. "Seriously you've never thought that? What with the flag and the stars and the spandex?"

Barnes's lips twitch.

"Someone's trying to frame you for a bombing. Steve wants to protect you." Tony continues.

"I haven't bombed anything." Barnes retorts.

"That's why I said, 'trying to frame you.'" Tony reiterates. "Steve is going to get himself in trouble trying to help you."

Bucky stops walking and glances around. Tony thinks he spots Clint on a far rooftop, Natasha sauntering through the market behind them. The rest of their team-mates are with Coulson on their way back to the States seeking the truth about what has happened.

"I killed your parents." Barnes announces quietly. "Why help me?"

Tony swallows hard against the raw look in Barnes's eyes. "HYDRA killed my parents. You were the weapon but it wasn't your choice."

For a moment he remembers the bunker, the video, the feelings of anger and horror and rage. Steve had once asked him if he had told Tony the truth if it would have made a difference.

Tony knows the answer now. He snags Barnes's anguished gaze and holds it. "There is nothing to forgive but if it means anything, I forgive you."

Barnes drops his eyes to the floor for a long moment before he raises them again. His eyes are damp and his face pale but he rallies. "You say Steve's in trouble?"

Tony nods. "Well, on his way to trouble." He checks his watch. "He's probably waiting for you in your apartment right now ready to save you from the CIA unit which we already got off your tail."

"He always was a little punk." Barnes sniffs. He takes a deep breath. "You have a plan?"

Less than thirty minutes later, Natasha brings Steve to the quinjet which they'd parked in a field just out of town.

Steve rushes in but stops short of the fidgeting figure of his best buddy. "Buck?" There's trepidation in his voice; hope and anguish shining out of his eyes.

Barnes reaches out a hand. "To the end of the line, right Stevie?"

And Steve gives a half sob before closing the distance and hugging Barnes to him.

The moment is emotional and heart-breaking; Tony looks away from Steve pressing his forehead to Barnes, the way he clutches at the other man as though he's his only lifeline.

Tony sidles past the pair, Nat and Clint following him as they leave the quinjet and the two men to their reunion. They find Sam hovering awkwardly outside.

"They OK?" asks Sam.

Tony knows they're really not.

He can see it clearly now.

Neither Barnes or Steve are OK – Barnes because of the hell of his horrific experience and Steve…Steve because of the hell of his; seventy years adrift in the future from everything and everyone he'd known and loved. He'd been putting up a good front – a good Captain America front, but Tony knows in witnessing Steve reunited with Barnes this time, he's perhaps finally gotten to see the real Steve Rogers; scared and broken and fighting for the one person who gives him any kind of anchor.

"They will be." Natasha says quietly.

"So what now?" asks Sam.

"Now we find out who's trying to frame Barnes, bring the Winter Soldier in from the cold, and you know stop the SHRA." Tony says. And possibly he needs to talk T'Challa out of killing Barnes again since unfortunately T'Chaka was one of the visiting dignitaries who had died in the bombing.

Not to mention there is a certain Spiderkid he needs to wrangle into the protection of the Avengers – and he tries hard to avoid the memory which flashes into his head of an alien sky and Peter lying still on the ground. He'll keep him safe this time, Tony promises himself; he won't need the soul stone again; he'll keep Peter safe without it.

He sighs heavily.

Clint pats his shoulder. "Just another day in the life of a superhero then?"


	18. Unexpected visitors

_Plan A_

The alarm blared out in the mid-afternoon across the Compound, sending everyone racing to assemble.

Tony was in the suit within moments, his modified nano-tech building the suit in seconds around him. He didn't wait for the others as he took off. "FRIDAY, report; what's happening?"

"Bleecker Street has been hit with some kind of missile, Boss." FRIDAY responded. "Trying to establish a visual from street surveillance."

Tony focused on the images flashing up on the HUD. There was a significant hole in the roof of the building. "I'll be there in five. Can I get a comms check?"

"Base online." Hill's voice crisply reported. "Satellite picked up a small object appearing in the lower stratosphere before it fell into the Sanctum; it looks like an uncontrolled fall not a targeted attack. Trying to get a better image now."

"Eyes up high online." Fury added. "Initial contact came out of one of those anomalies in the upper atmosphere."

Great, Tony thought, they're sending missiles from outer space. He pushed his speed more.

"We need back-up." Vision breaks in. "We have multiple alien signatures converging on our position."

"How did they get on Earth?!" asked Hill. "We are not reading any alien ship on satellite imagery!"

"There was a bright light approximately five minutes ago in the park at the end of the street." Vision reported. "In retrospect I believe it was similar to the Bifrost travel used by Thor."

"The space stone." Fury suggested. "Selvig seemed to think there was a chance it could mimic the Bifrost. If they have a way of travelling without a ship…"

"We're on our way, Vision. You and Wanda hold them off as long as you can." Steve said radiating confidence.

"What about New York?" asked Natasha. "Tony, do you need back-up?"

"Unknown." Tony answered.

"We're wasting time. We need to help Wanda." Steve argued. "They're facing multiple hostiles."

"We don't have all the intelligence to know where we're needed most." Natasha began.

"GO!" ordered Tony, barely keeping his annoyance out of his voice. "Back-up Vision and Wanda. I've got New York."

"I'll organise reinforcements for you, Stark." Hill broke in.

"Call when they're on the way." Tony said, arrowing through the skyscrapers and heading down towards Bleecker Street.

"Stay safe, Tony." Rhodey said.

"You too." Tony murmured under his breath. Rhodey would be fine. He had his new armour; he wouldn't be hurt by another fall.

Fury cleared his throat. "Stark, any news on Strange?"

"FRIDAY?"

"He's not picking up, Boss." FRIDAY responded.

"I'm two minutes out." Tony reported. He didn't slow until the last moment, until it was necessary to stop and look at the damage to the Sanctum.

His heart beat fast as he took in the hole in the roof. He lowered himself inside and froze as Strange levitated up to meet him.

"Come on in." Strange said dryly.

"You couldn't have contacted us and given the all clear?" Tony complained. He relayed Strange was fine as he landed in the foyer barely taking note of Strange's explanation that he'd been a little busy and cut the connection to the others. The suit retracted leaving only the arc reactor exposed in the jumpsuit he wore. He whistled at the size of the hole. "Missile?"

"Not quite." Strange looked pointedly over Tony's shoulder.

"Hello, Tony."

Tony spun around and took in his first sight of Bruce Banner since just before the battle of Sokovia. "Bruce!" His lips twitched. "I guess it's nice of you to drop in?"

Bruce smiled. "Funny."

"Come here." Tony hugged Bruce who tentatively hugged him back. "Where've you been?"

"Uh, long story." Bruce said.

"And we have more pressing matters." Strange cut in. "Banner was thrown through a space portal Thanos created near Asgard."

"You've been on Asgard?" Tony asked, diverted.

"Hulk was somewhere else and then I travelled to Asgard and I don't remember a lot." Bruce replied. "He's been in control a lot since I left Earth. I don't really remember much."

"Could we focus on the bigger problem?" asked Strange. "You know the insane alien on the way here to conquer the world?"

"What was his name again?" teased Tony sarcastically.

"Stark, don't tempt me to dump you on Everest until you focus!" Strange shot back.

Tony went to respond, to make some kind of quip, but there was suddenly screams outside the Sanctum.

He exchanged worried glances with the others before he marched to the door and opened it.

He took the steps down quickly and turned to look at what had people so freaked out.

He froze.

He slowly took off his glasses and stared up at the sight of the giant metal ring in the sky.

 _Plan Z_

Tony sits opposite the TV news anchor and tries to ignore the nerves roiling in his belly. He's wearing a brand new blue Tom Ford, classic white shirt and a red tie with a gold tiepin. He's armoured but not the way he'd prefer to be.

Cooper Baxter smiles at him as the countdown to taping finishes. "We're here with Tony Stark, the Head of Research and Development at Stark Industries, and the Avenger known as Iron Man. Mister Stark, thank you for joining me this evening."

"You're welcome." Tony gives a small smile.

"Today saw the defeat of the Super Human Registration Act in the Senate by an overwhelming majority. You and your fellow Avengers were outspoken against the bill. Do you feel a sense of victory this evening?"

"We feel satisfaction that common sense has prevailed rather than victory." Tony states. "The Act was nothing more than a subversive attempt to discriminate against the enhanced individuals who are emerging more and more in our society. It goes against the core values of our country in attempting to mandate registration, internment and forced labour through prettier words and under the banner of safety."

"What do you say to those who still believe that the Act was about accountability?" Cooper asks.

"I'd ask them to read it." Tony says. "It's quite clear in the text that this isn't about holding enhanced individuals accountable if they are in the superhero business."

"People like Senator Partridge point out that there are no legislative protections or accountability for those people who are impacted by superheros." Cooper continues. "What's your reply to them?"

"They're wrong." Tony states firmly. "If a superhero outright murders someone outside an authorised battle or engagement, they can be prosecuted under existing law. Equally, if they steal or borrow something in the course of their mission, they can be held accountable and face charges if the reasons are not directly related to an immediate emergency need. Property damage is scrutinised in the aftermath to determine whether more could have been done and we train to actively avoid it when we can. But, civilians and organisations can lay a claim for damages against us just like anyone else."

"And the collateral human damage?" asks Cooper. "How are you held accountable for that?"

"Again, we train to avoid as many civilian casualties as we can, and we review when we can't." Tony says. "Saving lives matters to us and we always try to save as many as we can. Do we fail sometimes? Yes, and when we do, we face a review by the UN panel which examines the facts and determines whether there was negligence or malice in our actions. We have oversight; we are held accountable." He pauses and, for a second, he lets the emotions he feels show before he covers them again with a sad smile. "We hate losing people. And deaths we could have prevented or that stem from a wrong decision, a miscalculation? We feel…we feel the weight of that."

Cooper leads him into the next question and ten minutes later Tony knew the main questions had been asked and answered. Cooper's intelligent – he doesn't completely give Tony an easy ride – but overall Cooper's supportive of the defeat.

"If we can change direction for a moment," Cooper asks, "today also saw the arraignment of former Senator Franklyn Burbridge on charges of international terrorism, conspiracy against the US government, and murder of the forty-three people in the bombing of the Congress last month. The majority of the dead were visiting dignitaries from as far a-field as Wakanda and Australia. Many of the countries who lost people are calling for his extradition; what are your thoughts?"

"I can appreciate their want to ensure justice is done. But he killed people from eight different nations including the US in his attempt to force the SHRA so it's difficult. I can understand why our government is continuing to argue jurisdiction." Tony responds. "I believe we need to keep ensuring all the voices of the victims' families and loved ones are heard as we move through our judicial process."

He still can't believe that the Senator had set-up the bombing to frame Bucky and discredit Steve and the Avengers about the SHRA. Fortunately, with hard evidence that Bucky had been in France, and Wolverine tracking down of the actual bomber who had immediately turned on the Senator to save himself, the plot had been uncovered before it could do any political damage to the Avengers' side of the argument.

"And finally, how are Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes?" Cooper asks.

"Sergeant Barnes is continuing to receive treatment and is progressing well." Tony confirms. "Cap's taking a well-earned timeout to be there for his friend and to take stock after recent events."

Cooper wraps up the interview and thanks him. Tony makes his escape.

Happy's waiting for him by the limo; he holds up his cell phone and glares at Tony. "The kid has texted me five times already today."

"Good." Tony says. "He knows he can count on us."

Happy rolls his eyes and darts back as Tony reaches for Happy's pocket and the keys. "You're not driving."

"Yes, I am." Tony argues. "My car."

"My car," Happy corrects, "and you're about to fall over. Aren't you meant to be showing a better example for the kid?"

They look at each other for a long moment before Tony concedes and clambers in the back of the limo.

He is tired.

He closes his eyes and leans his head back against the soft cushion for a moment.

Something alerts him to another presence.

It's not much, just a shift in the air but his eyes fly open, his wrist gauntlet deploying over his hand…

A bald woman in an Asian grey outfit reminiscent of karate wear, sits on the other side of the limo. She raises her hand and makes a circular gesture which Tony remembers all too well from Strange. The gauntlet reverts to a watch.

Tony stares at her, his heart pounding.

"Be at ease, Anthony Stark." She says. "I am the Sorceror Supreme. They call me the Ancient One."

"Right." Tony says and he knows he's messing this up. He shouldn't know who she is, what that is. He takes a breath. "Magic?"

"Let's not play games, Mister Stark," the Ancient One says calmly, "your very soul is shrouded in the power of the infinity stones."

"Right."

Tony glances at the divider towards Happy.

"He sees exactly what he wants to see." The Ancient One tells Tony. "He sees his boss sleeping soundly in the car. He is a good man."

"Yes, he is." Tony says.

"As are you." The Ancient One smiles at his wide-eyed blink.

Tony reaches up to touch the arc reactor.

"Time." The Ancient One murmurs. "We all wish we had more of it, but it is only if our desire is truthful and steeped in love that the Eye will work." She looks at him almost as though she's dissecting him down to his core. "The Eye has granted a gift to you to fix what was once undone."

"Strange thought you'd disapprove." Tony says, wondering why she's decided to pay him a visit.

"Yes," the Ancient One nods, "he was right to think so. Our universe is fragile and disturbing the natural laws is unwise. But I cannot deny the Eye granted you your wish, and in truth everything is shaded grey more than black or white."

"Then this isn't to undo what I did?"

"Even my power does not match that of an infinity stone forged at the beginning of the universe." The Ancient One breathes in. "Even now I stand watching the city and the lights and say my final goodbye to Stephen. My time is gone."

"He thought you might have had the ability to save yourself." Tony says.

The Ancient One smiles enigmatically. "Some things are inevitable and Stephen must be the Sorcerer Supreme when the Mad Titan comes." She pins him with a look. "Give him one month and then go visit him. He has need of the knowledge you carry."

Tony blinks at her again. "You want me to tell him everything?!"

"Even now he holds the thread you weave though he knows it not." The Ancient One murmurs. "He must know this if the thread is to continue to weave."

Tony sighs and rubs his forehead tiredly. "OK, I guess that makes some kind of sense." It had been Strange who had thrown him the Eye after all.

"Tell him I sent you." The Ancient One smiles at him. "If he does not believe you, tell him you can always leave him on a mountain as I did."

Tony frowns. "Right." He clears his throat. "Do you see if…"

"My end has come and the future is unknown to me." The Ancient One says serenely. "What I can say is that there are forces at play which I cannot second guess. The Eye chose you, Anthony Stark. Your path ahead may not be known but only one with the strength of your soul could walk the past twice over."

Tony can't speak; his throat closes up, tears press against the back of his eyes.

"Be comforted that you will not walk it alone."

She's gone in the next heartbeat.

Gone as though she was never there.

A month later, Tony steps out of his car and glances up at 177a Bleecker Street.

He's barely reached the door before it opens and he carefully steps inside. He's unsurprised that no one has actually opened the door but he still flinches a little when it closes behind him the same way.

Strange walks out of a side room and into the lobby almost absentmindedly reading some kind of book and he stops short at the sight of Tony.

"Stark." He's hiding it well but he's clearly wondering why Tony is there. The cloak around his shoulders waves at Tony.

"Strange." Tony pockets his sunglasses and nods at the Sorcerer Supreme. "The Ancient One sent me."

Strange considers him for a long moment. "Does this have something to do with how you're riddled with the energy from the Eye?"

"Yes." Tony states directly, almost challengingly.

Strange nods slowly. "Then you'd best come in."

And Tony follows him into the heart of the Sanctum. It was time; he didn't have to walk the path alone anymore.


	19. Alien invasions

_Plan A_

Tony's phone rang and he lifted it to his ear almost unconsciously.

"Mister Stark!" Peter's panicked voice, pitched low as though he's trying to be stealthy, travelled down the phone line. "There's this metal ring…"

"I see it." Tony hates himself for what he's about to do – Peter's a kid – but he does it anyway. "School's out, Spidey. Time to suit up."

"On my way."

Tony lowered the phone and stared up at the sky. The sound of footsteps alerted him to the others coming to stand in the street beside him.

"My God." Bruce murmured as he stared up at the sky. "Is that a…space ship?"

"Looks more like an artificial portal." Wong said.

Tony frowned. "We need a closer look." His suit began to form around him, the nanos sweeping over his body and constructing the armour until he was covered and the faceplate snapped into place. He pushed off the ground and…

Suddenly, a beam shot out of the ring.

Tony felt it hit the armour and he went tumbling. Cars blew up as the beam touched them. Bruce dived to the side and took cover behind a wall while the sorcerers protected themselves with their magical glyphs.

The beam stopped abruptly.

Tony stabilised himself. "FRIDAY?"

"It was some kind of scanner, Boss. The rest was a side-effect."

"What was it scanning for?" asked Tony.

A second white beam shot down into the street and retreated leaving behind a group of hideous looking creatures. They weren't Chitauri but they were alien.

The sorcerers were creating lights in the air but Tony pushed past them to repulsor the creatures. One of the creatures evaded and sprang at Tony but a rush of webbing shot past Tony and stuck it to a wall.

"Nice timing, Spidey." Tony said.

The white beam struck out again but this time it snagged Strange and took him away. More creatures were deposited on the ground.

"Tell me he wasn't wearing the time stone!" Tony said urgently.

Wong used his magic to blast an alien creeping up on him. "The Eye is safe but it remains at risk as long as they have Stephen; only he can lead them to it. You must rescue him."

Bruce darted out and snagged one of the weapons the creatures were using which had been dropped. He used it to blast the new arrivals alongside Wong, Peter and Tony. "Go, Tony, we have this!"

"Not that I don't love you, Brucie, but don't you think it's time for your alter ego?" Tony said breathlessly as a third lot of aliens arrived, preventing Tony from flying up to the ring.

"He's not interested in playing!" Bruce called back.

"We need to get up to that ring!" Tony said, taking two aliens out with a quick blast from his repulsors.

"On it!" Spidey said and zipped off before Tony could stop him, swinging upwards.

"Kids." Tony mumbled under his breath.

A dark van careened to a stop at the end of the street and combat dressed agents tumbled out. They began to shoot the aliens even as a fourth group landed on the street.

"GO!" ordered Wong.

Tony didn't bother to argue. He headed upwards.

"Uh, Mister Stark?" Peter's voice sounded nervously over the comms. "I think this thing is moving!"

And it was.

The ring was ascending, travelling upwards at speed.

Tony gritted his teeth and sent a command to the nanobots to initiate rocket mode for his suit. "FRIDAY, deploy the Iron Spider!"

 _Plan Z_

"So," Steve says as the Avengers on the ground form a line in front of the rocky mass, "this looks like…" he stops, "yeah…I have nothing."

Tony smiles in his suit. He's hovering a safe distance above the rocky mass with FRIDAY running scans.

Beside Steve, Barnes stares at the rock with a considered frown. He's sporting a brand new arm courtesy of Tony and Wakanda, (T'Challa had tried to attack Barnes but had thankfully listened to reason). The Wakandans had also been able to treat Barnes' brainwashing and Barnes had requested to join the Avengers shortly after. In Bucky's own words, officially he was seeking redemption for the horrors he'd done as the Winter Soldier, but unofficially it was to keep a certain Steve Rogers out of trouble. Tony can't deny that Steve seems a hundred per cent more settled with Barnes at his back.

"This thing took out the rest of the town?" Natasha asks, poised for action in her new Widow's suit.

"Going by the LEO reports and the video footage captured by the civilians during the incident; yes." Coulson states. SHIELD had arrived shortly before the Avengers and had set-up the perimeter, herding the rest of the civilians and the news reporters to a safe distance.

Tony reads the analysis FRIDAY is displaying with a frown. "It's a dense crystalline mass. It's not Earth based."

"So, it's what? The Blob?" asks Clint. He's perched on the tallest building in the town left, just to the right of the mass.

Stephen is weaving his arms in a circular fashion before he lowers them. "There was some kind of inter-dimensional magical energy inhabiting the mass but it's fading rapidly."

"Is it dead?" The local town sheriff shouts from the perimeter a good distance away from the mass itself.

"Dying would be a more accurate term." Stephen says.

"So it could still come to life and eat everything in its path again?" checks Sam, hovering in the air beside Tony.

"Unlikely." Stephen says.

"My calculations suggest the energy will be fully dissipated in ten hours." Vision states, sending his analysis to display on the HUD of the suit.

Tony hums as he checks it and nods. "You heard Vis, Cap. Ten hours."

Steve nods thoughtfully. "Let's set-up a watch and work on a way to stop this thing if it wakes up again."

"Simmons will need samples." Coulson requests.

"On it." Tony says. "Lend me Redwing, Wilson."

The AI drone Tony had created for Sam zooms towards him happily and they begin scraping the surface into a sample bottle Tony pulls from one of the side compartments in his armour.

"I'll let Storm and Wolverine know they're not needed." Natasha confirms, turning and walking away to the SHIELD van.

Storm and Wolverine were at a special training session with the X-Men that weekend. Tony knew part of what they were doing were assessing new members which potentially included the Maximoff twins. The deal Xavier had struck with the authorities in the wake of the Ultron massacre had given them the option of schooling at Xavier and community service rather than jail-time. Tony knew it would help to have their powers on their side during the Thanos invasion but he still felt that they'd gotten off lightly, even if their crimes in the new timeline didn't include messing the Avengers' heads and setting the Hulk loose in a highly populated city.

Stephen sent a yellow glyph towards the mass. "That should contain it for a short time it if it moves again."

"How short?" asks Steve.

Stephen shrugs. "It's not an exact science." He steps away from the mass. "If you'll excuse me I'll head to the Sanctum and do some research on whether this phenomenon has happened before."

Steve nods but Tony can see the small tick in Steve's jaw which gives away his frustration with the sorcerer.

Stephen creates a showy circle of bright orange sparks, and the cloak billows dramatically behind him as he portals away.

Tony feels a moment of jealousy that Stephen has managed to get out of staying in Middle-of-Nowhere, Missouri.

He's about to finish up the sampling when the mass begins to tremble.

"Stay alert, people!" Steve orders.

Tony brings his repulsors to bear, the whine of their charging loud as his heart pounds and…

The mass transforms into dead earth and falls in a cloud of dust…

Steve lowers his shield; somehow he's managed to protect Natasha from the dust completely but he's covered in it. He sneezes dramatically.

Tony turns and looks back down what had been the rest of the street. Crushed cars and buildings litter the space; there is no sign of life. It has the feel of an old Western ghost town.

"FRIDAY?" checks Tony.

"No heat signatures, Boss." FRIDAY confirms.

There is the sound of a woman weeping beyond the perimeter line and Tony feels a sense of helplessness as he surveys the devastation. There's nothing they can do. He thinks about the last time when the Avengers hadn't even been called in to assist. Now they have been but there is nothing they can do except help the town with the aftermath.

A day later, Tony is back in the tower tinkering in the workshop when Stephen opens a portal and invites him into the Sanctum. Tony looks at the prosthetic on the table (unneeded by Rhodey this time thank goodness), sighs and orders FRIDAY to save everything before he crosses from one side of New York to the other with a single step. He follows Stephen through to his cosy parlour; the room is filled with shelves of books, a real fireplace takes centre stage in the sitting area which has immensely comfortable chairs and sofas.

Charles Xavier is already there drinking from a fine china teacup with a peaceful expression. It had been Stephen's idea to include Charles in their time-travelling discussions since Charles already knew. Tony couldn't argue that Charles was immensely intelligent, good with people in a way neither he nor Stephen are, and so a very welcome inclusion to their group (and yes, Tony might be slightly miffed that he hadn't thought about going to Charles for support beyond the mental bubble-wrap before Stephen's suggestion).

It's been good having Stephen and Charles. The weight of the universe doesn't seem just balanced on his shoulders anymore. Their rational counsel has helped Tony put to rest a lot of the lingering guilt of what he hasn't changed, what he couldn't.

Tony throws himself into a chair beside Charles and snags some shortbread from the plate on the coffee table. "So?"

"Wong's confirmed," Stephen says as he takes his own seat more sedately, the cloak leaving him and drifting away to peruse the books, "the energy signature corresponds with what is known about celestial energy."

"So, this probably is Quill's run in with his celestial father." Tony murmurs.

Charles set his cup down. "I believe you said that Thor arrived back within a month of the Missouri event?"

"As far as I can remember, yes." Tony says, finishing one piece of shortbread and reaching for another as his stomach rumbles. He vaguely wonders when he ate last and sighs heavily.

"Then it appears we're running out of time." Stephen comments.

"Time," repeats Tony, wagging a finger at him, "funny." But Stephen is right.

Charles exchanges a glance with Stephen. "You've done a great deal to prepare the world, Tony."

It's true that the world is more prepared for an invasion. The UN department has worked with NASA, SI and other firms to create a satellite net which acts as an early warning system and first line of defence. There are UN commissioned VERONICA suits but still in Tony's control orbiting in the upper atmosphere which will deal with anything which comes in within Earth's atmosphere. There are three helicarriers providing bases for emergency response for the world's natural and alien disasters all under Coulson's SHIELD.

The Avengers are certainly in a better place. They're a cohesive team now – oh, they disagree with each other and there are arguments, but there's more willingness to compromise and apologise on all sides.

They have good relationships too with the X-Men, with the Fantastic Four, and the Defenders. They're not pretending any more to be the only superhero group in town and the result is a much tighter superhero community which backs each other up.

But there is one thing missing…

"We need something that means we can beat him." Tony says. "Otherwise we'll just end up repeating what happened, and yes, maybe we fight better and can last longer but…"

"We need the knockout blow to win." Charles agrees.

Stephen hums. "There's four elements to his win, correct?"

"Right," Tony agrees, "the army of alien creatures, the Black Order, the infinity gauntlet and Thanos himself." He pauses, thinking things over. "Strategically, we know we can handle the army of alien creatures, we have the ability to attack the vessels they arrive in before they can make it to the planet; same with anything which just appears in the upper atmosphere."

"And we have a significant number of groups who would be able to fight and contain an army on the ground." Charles says. "The main risk is simply magnitude; their greater numbers may overwhelm us."

"The Black Order are more complicated." Stephen states thoughtfully. "But while they have gifts and are difficult, we can find a superhero or two up to the challenge of overcoming them." He smiles at Tony's frown. "We know from your report of the last timeline that they can be beaten."

Tony accepts that with a small nod. "Which leaves us still without a strategy for Thanos and the infinity gauntlet."

"Thanos can be overcome." Charles says. "The Titans were formidable but our own mythology concludes that they were eventually defeated."

"By Gods." Stephen points out.

"It is good then we have a God who we know will be with us." Charles comments dryly.

"Thor couldn't take him alone the last time." Tony comments. "Thanos used the infinity gauntlet to kill him."

"But if we could get the infinity gauntlet away from him…" Stephen begins.

"Or stop him finding the stones completely." Charles chips in.

"Then Thanos loses a lot of his power." Stephen concludes.

"Easier said than done." Tony murmurs. But there could be a way of separating the gauntlet from Thanos - even if they had to cut off his arm.

Charles regards him seriously. "Do you remember anything which may counter the infinity stones?"

Tony rubs his head, thinking desperately but unable to come up with anything. "I'm not sure." He admits. "I can barely remember this timeline never mind the other."

"I can help you." Charles says. "We could try a guided hypnosis."

"Or I could send him into a magical sleep for a couple of hours with the instruction to review the other timeline memories and find a solution." Stephen offers.

Tony plumps for Stephen's solution, and ten minutes later he's lying flat on a bed in one of the Sanctum's bedrooms. Stephen touches his forehead and Tony sleeps.

 _He's on Titan…Peter stands in front of him._

" _Why am I here?" asks Tony._

" _Why do you think you are here?" Peter replies and holds the soul stone up. "You came for me."_

 _Slowly Tony realises Peter isn't Peter but the avatar of the stone._

 _Peter smiles. "Through me you are linked to all."_

 _Vision shimmers into view, representing the mind stone. Unsurprisingly it's Strange who takes the avatar for the time stone. Thor shows up and Tony mentally assigns him to the space stone while he pins Wanda for the reality stone. And finally, Pepper appears; the power stone. They and Peter surround him._

" _You search for a way to defeat us." The mind stone in the form of Vision states._

" _To stop Thanos from using your power." Tony corrects. "If you exist, if this is some form of reality…"_

 _Wanda smirks at him. "All realities are possible."_

"… _then tell me how to stop him."_

" _You have always known the answer." Peter points towards Tony's hand and Tony lifts it to find it burned. "You held the stone."_

" _Strange said it was the residual arc reactor energy that allowed me to hold it…" murmurs Tony._

 _The landscape slides away in the background and Tony finds himself in his Tower in front of Loki just like in the first timeline except he's still stood in the middle of a circle of avatars watching him…_

 _The spear hits his arc reactor and nothing happens…_

" _You couldn't be swayed by me." Vision says._

" _The casing on the arc reactor protected me…" Tony began and stopped. His eyes leaped to Vision's. "It wasn't the casing, it was the energy field."_

" _You created your own power." The avatar of Pepper reaches out and touches the arc reactor. "This time you have kept it within you."_

" _So long as I have the arc reactor you can't be used against me." Tony murmurs._

" _We can only be used to affect you if you allow it." Thor states._

" _Why help me?" asks Tony as the background fades away until they're in space, floating above the open portal below them, the Chitauri exploding above their heads._

" _You gave your soul to us." Peter reminds him._

" _Who says we are helping you," Pepper teases, "perhaps we are simply helping ourselves."_

 _Everything fades, avatars slipping away until it's just himself stood on Titan and the soul stone burns in his hand…_

He wakes up, lurching into a sitting position, gasping for breath.

"Tony." Charles says softly, but he's already beginning to smile as he reads the truth spinning in Tony's mind.

Tony looks at Stephen and back at Charles. "I have an idea."


	20. With or without the suit

_Plan A_

Tony landed beside Peter on the ring.

Peter's spider eyes were wide-open and he was examining his suit with astonishment. "Woah."

"I told you to start wearing it already." Tony grumbled. "FRIDAY, scan for a way into this thing." The sky above them was beginning to give way to the upper atmosphere and even if Tony had solved the icing problem a long time ago, he wasn't keen on the idea of being on the outside of the thing for any longer.

"There's a hatch to your right, Boss." FRIDAY stated confidently.

Tony examined it and found the handle. He tried to move it but it held firm.

Peter cleared his throat nervously. "Maybe I should try, Mister Stark?"

Tony swept an arm in clear invitation and stepped back.

Peter's Spidey strength proved to be the trick and they were barely inside and with the hatch closed when the whole structure seemed to tremble around them before slamming them hard against the bulkhead for a long moment.

Peter's mask retracted "OK, so this is bad, isn't it? I mean, this thing's gone into outer space and my Aunt is going to kill me and…"

Tony had his own faceplate retract and set both hands on Peter's shoulders. "Look at me, Peter, just look at me."

He waited until Peter stopped rambling and held his gaze.

"Deep breath."

Peter took a breath. "Is it just me or this place like the TARDIS?"

"Bigger on the inside." Tony mused looking around with interest.

Peter suddenly pushed Tony aside to web two of the alien creatures to the wall. His mask cascaded across his face.

Tony righted himself, the faceplate moving into position again as he turned and blasted another couple of aliens creeping up on them.

"Let's find Strange and get out of here." Tony suggested.

Peter nodded jerkily.

"FRIDAY, scan for human life-signs." Tony ordered.

"To your right, Boss. Three levels up. I'm reading another heat signature with him, Boss." FRIDAY responded crisply.

"Right." Tony was pleased when Peter followed him without a complaint. They made good time – Tony blasted another couple of aliens out of their way; Spidey webbed his to the walls.

Tony paused as they reached the right door. Tony held up three fingers to Peter who grasped the door handle and nodded. They counted down together. The door flew off and they stormed in.

An energy beam came at them – Peter dived out of the way, landing sideways on the wall. Tony blasted upwards.

An ugly bald-headed alien laughed.

Behind him, Strange was suspended by white lights piercing his body.

"Move away from him!" ordered Tony, holding up his hand, aiming his repulsor at the alien.

"You are too late." The alien dude said. "I have what I need."

Tony shot his repulsor but the alien stepped back and with a sharp motion opened up a portal shrouded in darkness. "Enjoy your ride!"

The ship lurched around them as Strange fell to the ground and the portal disappeared.

Tony landed in front of Strange. "You alright?"

"Yes," Strange nodded, "but I'm not going to complain at being rescued."

"The Eye?"

"Safe." Strange said firmly. "He won't get to it, no matter how much power he has."

Tony wanted to press for more details but Peter landed beside them.

"I think we should see if there's a bridge or something?" Peter suggested.

The metal around them groaned.

"FRIDAY, is there a control centre on this thing?" Tony asked.

"If there is, Boss, I can't find it. I think there may be a computer port just behind you."

Tony turned. Luckily the nanobots took care of shaping a lead which plugged into the port.

"Well?" asked Strange impatiently.

"Well, what?" asked Tony grumpily. "You think we can just plug and play? The code's all in alien language and…"

The ship jolted throwing them all to the ground.

For a moment they tumbled around the room until Peter managed to get himself stuck and webbed them all into a make-shift safety harness.

Minutes went by as the ship rocked and jolted before finally they were still.

"Right," Tony said, untangling himself from the web, "I'm going to go outside and see if there's breathable air, aliens, and anything else that may want to kill us." He pointed at Strange who looked peaky no matter what he said and then at Peter. "Stay here."

He left before they could argue.

There were no alien creatures between him and the hatch which he managed to manoeuvre open with a judicious use of brute force. He wondered what had happened to the creatures who had been on the ship but he was glad he didn't have to deal with them.

He hovered above the debris and frowned at the state of the space ship. It was ruined. The yellow sky gave away the alien location.

"We're not in Kansas anymore, FRIDAY." Tony murmured as he landed. "Can we breathe?"

"I can't, Boss, but you should be fine." FRIDAY responded.

Tony's lips twitched. FRIDAY wasn't JARVIS but she was a good AI. His faceplate retracted and he spun in a slow circle, taking the planet in. It looked like a scrap yard; ruins of buildings and ships scattered all around it. Hopefully there was something he could use to get them home if Strange's portal thing wouldn't work.

Something crunched to the back of him and Tony froze. There was something there…

He spun, repulsors coming up to blast and…

Quill grabbed Drax and pulled him back. "Easy! Easy!"

Tony lowered his hands. "Quill?! What are you doing here?"

"Me?!" Quill gestured at him. "What are you doing here?"

Tony motioned at the ship behind him.

Drax gave a loud laugh and pointed at Tony. "You have crashed." He rumbled. "You fly as badly as Peter."

"HEY!" Both Tony and Quill said loudly.

 _Plan Z_

"Thank you for coming." May Parker ushers Tony and Pepper inside the apartment and darts a nervous look at Peter's bedroom door which is closed.

"Anytime." Tony says, which given it's the middle of the night is just as well.

"He hasn't said much to me about what happened but I know he's hurting." May crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "He's not sleeping…he doesn't eat properly." She shook her head. "I don't know what to do."

Pepper slides an arm around May and looks beseechingly at Tony.

"I'll talk with him." Tony promises.

May sniffs, her eyes suspiciously bright. "Thank you."

"Come on, May." Pepper says softly. "Let's go make some hot chocolate." She sends Tony an expectant look as she pulls Peter's distraught Aunt towards the kitchen.

Tony points at Peter's room. "I'll just…" he takes a breath and steps up. He knocks softly at the door and barely hears the mumble to enter.

Tony pokes his head around the door and spots the lump under the bedclothes. He walks inside and closes the door. He glances around taking in the Lego Death Star on the desk with Peter's latest computer scavenger hunt find; he sees the finished homework books stacked to the side. There's a mess; dirty laundry strewn across the floor to the left but nothing major. It's the typical mess of a teenage boy.

"I'm fine, Aunt May." Peter croaks from his nest of blankets.

"Not your Aunt May." Tony informs him almost gently.

Peter freezes for a moment and then lurches up, he gets tangled in the blankets and for a moment there's a hilarious sight as Peter fights the bedclothes and his balance as he tries to get out of bed.

Tony moves to catch him as he almost falls out of the bed in an ungracious tumble. He pushes Peter back to sit on the bed and takes a seat beside him.

"Mister Stark!" Peter says breathlessly.

"Peter." Tony replies. He looks at him carefully. There's signs of crying – red eyes and flushed cheeks; of stress in faint white lines of tension no teenager should carry.

The Toomes affair has gone down regardless of the changes Tony made with Damage Control. Evidently Toomes had been outbid by another company and just as in the last timeline, Toomes had set up as a criminal in response. He'd kept his criminal activity well hidden – enough that Tony who had set up JARVIS to check on Toomes hadn't found anything.

It hasn't gone down exactly like before because Peter's been a part of the Avengers since Tony made contact with him just after the SHRA was defeated. May has known since then too.

But the changes haven't prevented Peter from ending up in trouble.

His crush, Liz, had asked Peter to ask Spiderman to help her Dad who she had assumed was being threatened by a criminal element. Peter had been grounded and May had been the one to confiscate the suit after he'd gotten caught up in the ferry incident which luckily Tony had been around to help with again, even if he's been distracted with the plans to save the world from Thanos.

But May had let Peter out for prom night as an exception to her grounding and…and things had gone pretty much the way they had the last time with Peter chasing Toomes who'd planned to steal a plane full of alien artefacts which were being transferred from the tower to a lab at the Compound.

Ultimately Peter had saved the day and caught Toomes without his suit; he'd proven he deserved the suit again but Tony can see how badly events have left Peter shaken this time.

"You want to talk about it." Tony offers.

"Not really." Peter fidgets with the edge of his t-shirt which has an old-style picture of the Millennium Falcon on the front.

"OK." Tony agrees readily.

"Really?" asks Peter, brightly.

"Nope." Tony says.

Peter's face drops visibly. The kid has no idea of how to hide an emotion.

Tony nudges him with a brief knock of his shoulder against Peter's. "Talk to me."

Peter fidgets some more before he bites his lip. "It's stupid."

"You're not stupid, kid." Tony murmurs. "And whatever you're feeling that's not stupid either."

Peter holds his gaze for a long moment before his eyes drop to the floor. "I can't sleep." He confesses. "Every time I close my eyes…" he sighs, "before the plane, I followed Toomes to this warehouse he was using. He…he…he dropped the building on me."

Tony's heart beats fast; he has an awful feeling the same thing happened the last time and he never knew.

"I was…it was crushing me." Peter forces the words out, and his eyes are shiny with repressed tears. "I thought I was going to die. I called out for help and…there was no one." He swipes the back of his hand under his nose and sniffs. "I managed to lift the beam off me and crawl out but...I close my eyes and it's like I'm back there and I can't breathe and…"

Tony swallows hard. He nudges Peter again to get the kid to look at him but when Peter does, there's a second and then Tony is pulling Peter in and the kid's crying on his shoulder. Tony tentatively cradles the back of Peter's head.

It takes a while before Peter stops crying, before he shuffles back, his eyes downcast and the picture of teenage embarrassment. Tony produces a handkerchief to stop a repeat of the hand.

"Uh, sorry about…"

Tony shakes his head. "You don't need to be sorry. It's OK to be not OK."

Peter looks at him disbelievingly.

"Yeah, I didn't go for that one either." Tony admits with a sigh. "I have nightmares. Sometimes. It's…it's part of the gig. We get into scary situations and deal with scary things."

"But I should be fine!" Peter argues. "He wasn't an alien or anything like that! He was…"

"Human." Tony says. "Sometimes we're the scariest monsters there are, kid."

Peter fidgets again.

"Why didn't you call us?" asks Tony, giving voice to the question that's been nagging at him.

"You've all been so busy and with T'Challa joining…and that's right because it's like saving the world important?" Peter mumbles. "You had to help me with the ferry and I know you were disappointed with me…" he shrugs, "I didn't want to bother you."

Tony clears his throat. "Have you ever wondered why I really asked you to join the Avengers? I mean beyond having your skills in the mix?"

Peter frowns and nods.

"I wanted to give you some protection." Tony admits bluntly. "There you are chasing down muggers and stopping traffic accidents and…and being your friendly neighbourhood Spidey, but on your own. I figured giving you the suit, giving you a team, would help keep you safe, even if it dragged you into things like a future alien invasion."

Peter's eyes widen.

"You're a good kid, Peter, but emphasis on the kid." Tony says. "You're not supposed to be facing any of this alone. You called Ned; you could have called us, me. We would have been there. We're your team." He waits a beat. "Sure, we would have helped May ground you after but we would have been there."

Peter thinks on it; Tony can almost see the cogs whirling in Peter's speedy brain as he assimilates the information. He slowly nods.

"Do…do the nightmares ever go away?" he asks.

"Some do, some don't." Tony says honestly.

Peter nods again.

"Hot chocolate?" offers Tony after they've sat in silence for a long moment.

Peter shakes his head. "I just…I think I can sleep now."

Tony gets up and watches as Peter gets back into bed, as he snuggles down back into his blankets. "'Night."

"'Night." Peter's voice is barely a whisper.

Tony waits and watches as Peter's breathing evens out and his face goes lax, looking so impossibly young and fragile.

He and Stephen have already debated how time is forcing some things to happen anyway, regardless of how much Tony has changed in the timeline. They only hope that the outcome of their battle with Thanos goes differently, but Tony is determined and promises himself that Peter won't go to Titan; won't face Thanos this time.

Tony inwardly sighs hoping he'll be able to keep that promise and tiptoes from the room. He heads for the murmur of voices and knows he won't sleep again tonight.


	21. Sacrifices

_Plan A_

There wasn't enough time.

That was the only thing Tony could think as he's staring up at the looming figure of the last Titan.

Thanos lived up to the hype; he was a behemoth. A thick purple thug who stood as tall as a building. He'd swatted Spiderman as though he was nothing more than an irritating bug; taken him to the ground with one massive hand…it had taken the unibeam to push Thanos back enough for Tony to see how the kid was doing and even then Thanos had come at him too quickly – one blow had compromised the armour.

Thank God for Quill and the Guardians who were doing their best to distract Thanos; Tony could finally check on an unmoving Peter.

"I'm sorry." Peter gasped out.

Tony shook his head. "There's nothing to be sorry for, Peter."

There just wasn't enough time. Not enough time on the planet to find the soul stone which was why the Guardians were there; not enough time for Strange, Spidey and Tony to find a way back to Earth.

Peter pressed something into his hand. "It's…I really…all I wanted was to be like you."

Tony could feel the power in the gem Peter had given him. It burns in his hand. "You're already better than me."

Peter almost smiled but his eyes are already blown and unfocused; his breath stuttering. "Will you…will you stay…"

"I'm here, Peter." Tony said, ignoring the sounds of the battle around him, of the others keeping Thanos occupied.

"I'm scared." Peter said.

"Just look at me, Peter." Tony said.

Peter couldn't though that was clear. His eyes flickered shut and Tony rested one hand on Peter's chest, feeling the barely-there breaths stutter and stop.

 _We can bring him back. All we need is one sacrifice, a soul bound to us for all time._ The stone whispered in his mind.

Tony grasped it tightly as he suddenly became aware of clapping behind him which froze him in place. He belatedly he realised he couldn't hear the battle any more.

"He fought well." Thanos intoned. "An interesting specimen. Had he lived he may even have survived my purge."

"Don't you intend to kill us all?" Tony said keeping his back to Thanos.

"When I am done, half of humanity will live. Perfectly balanced." Thanos said.

Tony shook his head. "And who determines that balance?" He turned, keeping the stone hidden in his hand even though it burned. "You?"

"I am a Titan. I have lived a millennia and seen the best and worst of humanity. The celestials left them to rot and killed all who would stop the rise of the vermin." Thanos said. "You do not even believe you deserve to live. I will balance the universe and I will have the stone you hold."

"What stone?" Tony prevaricated.

"Do not play with me, metal man."

"You want the stone; come and get it." Tony quipped, holding the stone tightly.

Thanos smiled. "I hope they remember you and how easily you were defeated at my hand."

 _One true sacrifice,_ the stone whispered again.

 _Accepted,_ Tony thought rapidly; _bring Peter Parker back and take me._ It was an easy choice. Peter was the hope of the future. Tony had dodged death more times than he deserved – Afghanistan, palladium poisoning, Sokovia, Siberia…

Thanos leaped for Tony and the last thing he saw was Thanos's fist coming towards him…

 _Plan Z_

The Guardians arrive with Thor on a Tuesday. The approach of their ship sets off the early warning systems but it's easy enough for Thor to validate who he is and they're sent straight to the tower. Tony is just grateful he'd accounted for the weight of a space ship on the roof when he'd laid the foundations and designed the structure.

Tony finds the next few hours difficult. He's glad he has some acting ability because faking surprise at the sight of a talking raccoon and tree is harder than he thought it would be.

Thor is a mess. His tale is worse this time. Loki has given his life to save Thor; Thor has given his life to save his people but likely in vain, but the outcome is that Thanos already has one of the stones; the space stone.

"Bugger." Tony murmurs under his breath garnering a look from Gamora who Tony is pretty certain has super-hearing.

They're gathered in the communal living area of the tower with the rest of the Avengers, Charles, Coulson and Stephen.

"Thanos will make his way here once he has retrieved the other infinity stones." Thor tells them. "He knows that you are in possession of the mind stone."

Vision inclines his head.

"Do you know where the others are?" asks Coulson.

"The Nova Corp have the power stone." Quill responds. "We sent them a warning but we haven't heard back from them."

"A being called the Collector has the Aether – the reality stone." Thor adds. "We aim to go there next."

"The location of the mind stone is known," Coulson looks at Vision briefly, "what about the other two?"

"The time stone has been in the care of the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj." Stephen admits freely. "It's safely hidden."

"So we have two of these stones on Earth." Steve shakes his head. "Not to be insensitive here, Vision, but if we were to send the stones elsewhere, would that prevent Thanos from coming?"

Oh.

Wow.

Tony has never thought of that as a solution.

Thor studies Steve for a long moment. "Perhaps…"

"You would only delay the inevitable." Gamora cuts in. "For as long as I have known him, Thanos has sought to kill half of humanity. Once he has the gauntlet he can do it with a snap of his fingers."

"OK, so we're going to have to fight him." Steve states rubbing his chin.

"But not necessarily on Earth," Tony says, "taking the stones somewhere else is a good idea."

Stephen's eyebrows quirk upwards as he looks pointedly at Tony.

"If those with the stones agree." Tony smoothly adds.

Stephen opens his mouth but Vision speaks before he can.

"I am willing to remove myself from the Earth." He looks towards Steve. "It is a sound strategy."

"Agreed." Stephen says.

The Guardians exchange a look and Quill clears his throat.

"Uh, not that this isn't an excellent plan because I'm sure it is _here_ , but…that's to say…"

"What planet do you wish to sacrifice in the place of yours?" Drax asks bluntly.

Steve blanches and immediately gives them the patented 'Captain America is insulted' look.

Bucky slaps a hand against Steve's arm – given it's the metal arm, Tony isn't surprised when Steve winces. "It's a fair question, Steve. If we're not fighting here than where?"

Steve ran a hand through his hair. "I hadn't thought about that."

Tony's mind flits to the wasteland of Titan. "Isn't there any planet which is just deserted, no longer inhabited?"

Stephen looks at him and his eyes widen. "Titan."

Gamora straightens and looks even more dangerous if that is possible. "What do you know of Titan?"

It says something about Stephen that he doesn't look cowed in the face of Gamora's almost palpable anger.

"It's theoretically where the ancient texts assume the soul stone resides." Stephen lies.

Well, not so much lies as exaggerates. It's always been their plan for Stephen to claim ancient magical books as the source for knowing where the soul stone is; unsurprisingly Tony and Charles both agree that it is more believable than a time-travelling human.

"Thanos is a Titan, right?" Steve says. "Is that why the idea disturbs you because it's his home planet?"

Gamora nods slowly. "Titan is considered…sacred. All of those under Thanos would never dare to venture there."

Both Sam and Bucky are looking at Steve with resignation.

Steve looks back at him. "What?"

"Don't 'what' me, Stevie; you know exactly 'what.'" Bucky wags a metal finger at his best friend.

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do." Sam says, crossing his arms. "And I'm going to ask you to think again because people who shoot at you, tend to shoot at me."

Tony's lips twitch because seeing Steve get reamed by Bucky never gets old, especially when Sam and Bucky double team him.

"Nobody's shooting at anybody." Steve protests.

"I could shoot you." Rocket offers.

"NO!" All the Guardians respond as the raccoon pulls a gun out of seemingly nowhere.

Tony turns away and stuffs a hand in his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

"Perhaps we could all return to the topic." Coulson suggests dryly. "Captain Rogers, you were about to suggest Titan as the destination to which to lure Thanos?"

"Woah!" Quill springs up again waving his hands wildly. "Didn't Gamora just explain why nobody goes there?"

Steve smiles. "I've never been good at keeping out of places people tell me not to go."

Tony almost chokes on his drink because if Steve hasn't managed to sum up his entire personality in that one sentence Tony isn't a genius. He waves off any concern as the group turns to look at him. He glances around the room and takes in the determined faces of each Avenger; of each Guardian; of each of their allies. He knows somehow they're on the right track; that this is what is meant to happen.

"OK," Tony says, "we're going to Titan. Let's plan this out."


	22. Lives lived and lost

_Plan A_

"Mister Stark!"

There was something tapping the side of his face.

Tony groaned and tried to waft the irritation aside.

"HE'S AWAKE!"

Tony bolted upright and groaned again. "What hit me?"

"Thanos." Peter replied.

 _Peter._

Tony stared at him for a long moment, simply drinking in the sight of Peter alive and well. His head ached and he groaned again as he pulled himself in a sitting position. "How long was I out?" Hadn't he offered his own soul for Peter's? Why was he alive?

"A while." Peter said.

Tony lifted a hand and winced sharply at the sight of it. It was badly burned but it wasn't hurting.

"You held the soul stone." Strange drew his attention. He looked exhausted; his face scratched and bloody. "These stones are not meant to be held by mortal men."

"I held it too." Peter argued.

"You're wearing the Iron Spider and if you'd look your glove is singed." Strange countered. He nodded at Tony. "If your suit had been operational when you'd first touched it you would have been fine too. As it is, I think you may have residual elements in your blood from the arc reactor. Perhaps that allowed you to hold it in your bare hand for as long as you did."

"It doesn't hurt." Tony remarked.

Strange waggled his fingers. So, a spell was preventing him from feeling the pain.

"Can you do something about the headache?" asked Tony.

Strange waggled his fingers again but Tony's headache disappeared so he wasn't going to complain about magic even if he wanted to so much he had to press his lips together to stop the words getting out.

Tony levered himself up off the ground. "I assume Thanos has the soul stone." He froze at the sight of Quill a few steps away. The Starlord was kneeling on the ground, holding the body of Gamora to him and sobbing. Nebula stood beside him, guarding him and her dead sister.

"Thanos sacrificed Gamora to the soul stone and left Nabula alive because she was not the daughter he loved." Strange said quietly.

It explained why Nebula looked furious. Tony breathed in deeply and turned away to give Quill a moment of privacy. His eyes fell instead on Thor standing over another two bodies, a teary raccoon and tree beside him; it was Drax and Mantis.

Tony sighed deeply. The battle they'd fought had been brutal and they'd clearly taken losses. He shivered as he considered Peter might have been just as lost as the other dead. He still didn't understand why he was alive but he wasn't going to question it.

"We need to get back to Earth." Tony said.

"It will take us some time to get to Earth in the ship." Thor said walking up to join them. Rocket and Groot were making their way over to Quill.

"We may not need a ship," Strange suddenly said, "I can feel the sorcerers from Kamar-Taj reaching out to me spiritually. I can use that to get us back."

"We're coming too." Quill said, surprising them as he strode towards them. His face was set in angry lines. "He took our people. He pays for that."

"Damn right he pays." Rocket produced a massive gun and armed it.

"I am Groot." The tree said, looking like an angry teenager.

Nebula simply planted herself beside them.

Tony motioned to the moody teenager on his left – the one he had almost lost. "Suit on." He ordered and suited up himself. There were a couple of dents in the armour; some sparking glitches but it worked. His time-out had obviously allowed the nanobots to repair things.

Strange nodded. He took a step and positioned himself, legs apart; arms stretched out in front of him with one hand raised with two fingers pointing upwards and the other making his typical circular motion.

The portal opened.

It was war on the other side.

Creatures going toe-to-toe with the Avengers and Wakandans; Falcon flew past taking out some of the creatures with gunfire, his flank covered by War Machine; the Hulk roared somewhere out of sight; Antman had gone giant and Tony saw swarms of insects taking down an alien; there was a glimpse of a blonde ninja Black Widow fighting back to back with a very unfrozen Bucky Barnes against a strange looking couple with spears.

"GO!" Strange ordered.

 _Plan Z_

Tony makes his way up to the tower roof. The sky is thundering, lightening zig-zagging across the sky.

It's not raining.

Not yet.

Thor stands on the edge of the roof. He hasn't changed out of the armour but he looks smaller somehow with his hair shorn, bereft of his cape and hammer. The shadowy shape of the space ship which had delivered Thor and his friends stretched almost to where he is perched.

Tony goes to stand next to him, not bothered about the height or the danger of falling. He guesses that says something about him.

"It has become a habit," Thor says eventually, "for you to comfort me here in my time of grief."

Tony hums and looks up at the light show as a loud roar of fury echoes through the sky.

"God of Thunder." Thor says mockingly. "What God am I?"

Tony sticks his hands in his pockets and stares out. "Not even Gods are perfect."

"And I less so than most." Thor shakes his head. "My father is dead."

Tony stays silent.

"I once spoke with you of our mothers," Thor says, "and I understand now the ache you feel. I miss her every day. I missed her most at the moment of my father's passing." His jaw tightens; his lips press together. "She conjured Loki's Asgardian form in Hela's image. Only she had the magic to do so. Not my father." He huffed a breath. "I would ask her why. Was he a way to remember a child she had lost? Did she do it to punish my father for locking Hela away, for him driving her daughter insane with his never-ending conquests? She did Loki a disservice either way as I fear my father hated and feared him every time he looked at him." He sighs. "I have so many questions and no one left to give me answers."

"I wish my parents and I had talked more." Tony confides. "I think everyone when they lose their parents has questions they never asked, time they didn't spend which they wish they had." He shook his head. "I loved my father and I hated him. He was…he was never interested; never involved. But he leaves a video telling me I was his greatest creation." He sighs. "It's not easy being the son of a great man, harder still to be the son of a king I bet."

"I thought it would be easy to be king." Thor admits. "Arrogance and youth. My time on Earth may have tempered me but even so, I failed as a king." He laughs, an ugly sound of recrimination. "I failed to prevent Hela from taking Asgard; I brought about Ragnarok and destroyed Asgard. I could not stop the Titan from killing my people. I only hope those I asked Korg and the Valkyrie to save may have escaped; that those who were already away from Asgard will survive."

Tony clasps Thor's shoulder. "You did what you could to save your people, Thor."

"My brother did more." Thor says. "He was a better king than I. For years he sat on the throne in my father's likeness and he ruled well." He sighs heavily again. "I rule for less than a few hours and our realm is gone, our people either dead or scattered and the Titan has the space stone."

Tony stays silent this time knowing Thor won't believe any words of comfort he may offer.

"My brother…" Thor swallows hard. "I thought perhaps…perhaps we could be reconciled. He stayed at the end of the battle. It meant something."

"He's died before." Tony offers. "Doesn't seem to stick."

"He gave up the space stone to save me and Thanos killed him. He deserved a better fate." Thor blinks as the thunder rolls away angrily up above. "He deserves to be avenged."

Tony squeezes his shoulder. "Then we'll avenge him."

Thor turns to look at him. "Even after all he did to this world?"

"We'll avenge him because he was your brother and you loved him." Tony says. "Because you're our friend and maybe, maybe we can't take the place of the family you've lost but we can be your family too."

Thor bows his head.

It's a long while before he lifts it and breathes in deeply.

"Come on inside." Tony says and Thor follows him in.

The Guardians are nowhere in sight, and somehow the newer members of the Avengers are all elsewhere as Tony leads Thor into the communal living space. Steve, Natasha and Clint are there and they get to their feet to offer their own hugs and comfort to their Asgardian friend.

There's just Bruce missing and Tony hopes that Bruce will survive and make it home the way he'd done a timeline ago.

Clint passes Thor a glass of whiskey.

Tony accepts his with a nod of thanks. He raises his glass. "To Asgard."

"Asgard." They murmur.

Thor tosses his drink back in one go.

Clint simply refills his glass. "To family."

Another refill. Outside the lightning crackles across the thunderous sky.

"To absent friends." Natasha toasts.

"May they always make it back to us." Steve adds.

Clint refills their glasses and they turn to Thor, almost surrounding him, sheltering him.

"To those we have lost and will never find again." Thor says thickly.

And outside it begins to rain.


	23. Time for the Titan

_Plan A_

Tony took a deep breath and fired his repulsors. Spiderman ran beside him and they split as they hit Earth…

They had to find Thanos.

"STEVE!" Tony spotted his old teammate sprawled unconscious on the ground almost immediately. He dropped to the ground and fought off a couple of scavengers before he retracted enough of the suit to check on Steve's condition.

There was no pulse; his head rested at a strange angle.

There was no time for anything more than a moment's grief; a regret…

He suited back up.

Steve was dead which meant Thanos had gone through him to get to Vision.

"Boss, Thor is down. Thanos used the gauntlet to kill him and the remaining Guardians." FRIDAY informed him urgently.

"Where's Vision?" asked Tony as he dipped in to help one of the Wakandans before darting back into the sky.

"A mile sixty degrees ahead, Boss." FRIDAY responded. "He and Scarlet Witch are fighting against multiple assailants."

Tony flew over Black Panther who had engaged Thanos; it was like a monster cat playing with…a much smaller cat.

Tony landed next to Vision and Wanda. "Get down!"

Vision snagged Wanda and took her into a crouch as Tony activated his lasers and destroyed the creatures circling them.

"That was well done." Vision said, almost breathlessly.

"Yes," agreed Wanda not even trying to hide how out of breath she was, "well done."

"THE PANTHER IS DEAD!" There was a cry which swept through the armies.

Tony placed himself between Vision and Thanos as the behemoth moved towards them; Wanda did the same.

"I fear we are out of time." Vision said looking at Wanda.

Her face almost collapsed with grief.

Tony leapt for Thanos.

If Thanos was surprised to see Tony he gave no sign of it, instead he swatted Tony's immediate attack away with a large hand and Tony went flying.

He landed badly in the undergrowth beside a body which he realised was Antman.

He looked back and saw Wanda and Vision teaming up against the Titan. But Thanos used the gauntlet to absorb Vision's rays and with one hand he sent Wanda flying backwards.

Tony tried to move but his suit was compromised; he struggled to get upright.

"You should not have fought me." Thanos rumbled as he held Vision by the throat and plucked the stone from his head.

Vision shuddered and fell to the ground, dead.

"NO!" Wanda screamed…and the world went red.

Tony sought cover as her magic wrecked the undergrowth; tearing up trees and plants, setting the dusty earth ablaze.

Above them something hit the helicarrier and it exploded in a fiery blast…

Thanos laughed and turned the gauntlet on her; she was hit with a purple blast and disintegrated in front of his eyes.

Tony felt a rush of rage and he stood despite the faulty suit and…he was immediately surrounded by creatures.

"Bring the survivors to me!" Thanos thundered.

The air was hot; fires blazed all around them as Tony was pushed into a clearing with Natasha, Barnes, a scared Peter and Strange. He felt cold, shocked. He couldn't believe that the others hadn't survived.

Rhodey.

Grief swamped Tony for a long moment. He shook himself as a group of Wakandans were brought alongside them, a couple of the Dora Milaje and warriors in different tribal dress.

"You fought well but you have failed." Thanos intoned. "The fight is over."

"Uh, you're still missing some bling there, big guy." Tony pointed out.

Thanos smiled.

There was a sudden patch of darkness beside him and the alien who had tortured Strange stepped out of it.

"He tried to hide it in a mirror dimension, Father," the alien said in a silky smooth voice that invited the listener to succumb to its literal charm, "but I was able to retrieve it."

And the alien opened the box he held to reveal the time stone…

 _Plan Z_

Titan is as dusty and devastated as Tony remembered it. He looks up at the shining moon above him remembering how Thanos had simply pulled it out of the sky with the power of the gauntlet. Somehow the physics had meant it wasn't the same world-ending event lobbing a moon at Earth would be but there had been a hell of a lot of destruction.

Tony shivers.

Steve claps a hand over Tony's armoured shoulder. "Alright there, Tony?"

"Just…taking it in." Tony covers.

Steve nods though, letting go of Tony. "It's a lot." He breathes in deeply and shakes his head. "I never thought I'd walk on another planet one day. It's always been more Bucky's thing."

"How mad is he?" asks Tony idly. Bucky had apparently lost the coin toss on which of them would stay behind and protect Earth just in case Thanos or the Black Order attacked there anyway.

"Eh," Steve shrugs, "he'll get over it."

"No, he won't." Natasha says dryly as she moves to stand next to them.

Clint follows her and stands next to Tony. "This is insane."

"Monsters and magic." Natasha murmurs.

The two spies exchange a long look.

Thor hefts his newly forged axe which crackles with his lightning as he flies over and drops to stand beside them. "We are ready, my friends."

Steve gives a huff of laughter.

Tony glances over at him questioningly.

Steve makes a circular gesture around their group. "We're just missing Banner otherwise…"

"The original Avengers." Tony realises. He smiles, remembering how Bruce had come through for them back then. "Bruce will make it."

They are all smiling as Vision joins them.

"May I ask what amuses you?" Vision looks at them clearly perplexed.

"Reminiscing." Steve says. "We're all the original group apart from you and Strange."

"Ah." Vision cocks his head. "JARVIS was with you, was he not on your first mission together?"

"Yes," Tony says, trying not to get choked up at the memory, "he was."

"Then perhaps I may stand for him here." Vision says.

Tony nods, unable to speak, and Vision inclines his head.

Stephen levitates in. "We're ready."

Quill coughs awkwardly behind them. "Are you sure you don't want us to stay?"

Tony remembers the bodies on the yellow ground a timeline ago and shakes his head. "We'll be fine."

Quill stares at them disbelievingly. "Just for the record I think this is a bad plan. You're kinda putting all our eggs in one basket here."

"I do not see any eggs." Drax rumbles.

Quill just sighs.

"I agree with Peter." Gamora says.

"You do?"

"I do."

They both exchange a heated look.

"You sent the message to the Nova Corp?" asks Steve, cutting through the tension.

Gamora nods. "They'd spotted Thanos' advance and were taking measures. They'll make sure he gets the message."

"Then you'd better get going." Steve confirms firmly.

Quill nods. "OK, but look – we're going to just, you know, hang around in this system for a bit. Just in case."

Thor clasps Quill's shoulder. "You have a good team, Quill."

Quill nods. "So do you. Don't get killed."

A short time later, the space ship leaves and the Avengers are left on the dusty surface alone. Steve finishes stacking their supplies of food and water – they really don't know how long Thanos will take to get to them – and straightens.

"Clint, Natasha; we'll stay with the supplies. The rest of you; let's see if we can find that soul stone." Steve orders.

It's two hours of searching before Tony stumbles over it in a large structure close to where the ring had crashed in the previous timeline. He picks it up and…

A portal opens above the planet and something hurtles through…

Tony quickly stores the stone in a side pocket in the armour and flies to provide the others with back-up. He's only half-surprised to find a naked Bruce Banner being helped to his feet.

"Bruce!"

"Hi, Tony!" Bruce is too busy zipping up pants to hug him but he gives him an apologetic smile.

"Thanks for dropping in on us." Tony says gleefully.

Bruce sighs but his eyes twinkle before they sober rapidly. "Thanos is on his way. Hulk managed to get ahead of the portal thanks to Loki."

Thor immediately brightens. "Loki lives?"

Bruce shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Thor. He gave me a…a thing back when Thanos attacked the Asgardian ship. He said I would know when to use it and it would take me to Tony. I've been locked up on Thanos' ship since Thor was, uh, not killed by Thanos?"

"Why to Tony?" asks Natasha.

Bruce shrugs. "I don't know."

Beside them, a darkness starts to form and they immediately take up defensive positions.

"Time to suit up." Steve says.

Stephen levitates, his gloved hands begin to circle, casting spells of protection and shields.

Vision rises into the air and waits.

Bruce smiles and in a rolling motion becomes the Hulk who roars defiantly.

Natasha takes out her batons and holds them ready.

Clint nocks an arrow and stands beside her.

Thor begins to crackle with lightning.

Tony shifts; his faceplate down and his hands up with the repulsors charging.

Steve lifts his shield.

And Thanos walks out of the darkness and onto the surface of the planet, a wave of creatures following him.


	24. To fight the battles

_Plan A_

Tony slapped his hand against his head and turned to glare at Strange. "Seriously?"

Strange just looked back at him impassively.

Thanos laughed. "The mighty Avengers." He mocked. "You have failed."

Tony tried not to feel disheartened but it was difficult. Peter inched closer to him and Tony resisted the urge to push him protectively behind him. They were surrounded. He just hoped Thanos would keep Peter alive.

Thanos reached for the box. His gauntlet was just missing the one shiny stone encased within it.

Tony watched as Thanos plucked it from the box almost delicately…

Strange took a step back…

…and Thanos dropped the stone into place.

It plinked.

Once.

Twice.

"DOWN!" Strange shouted and…

Tony turned and shielded Peter with his entire body as he dragged him to the floor.

The world exploded into heat and force.

Tony lifted his head and coughed.

Ash fell around them but they were protected by a glowing orange magical shield.

His eyes caught Strange's. "Bomb?"

"Wong's idea." Strange said defensively.

Tony shook his head and tried to clear the ringing as he took stock. Bucky and Natasha were slowly getting to their feet across the clearing.

The creatures around them were dead.

The Wakandans started to rise to their feet, holding and supporting each other.

Thanos was missing.

But there was a gasping form on the ground close to where he'd been; Strange's torturer. The alien shot Strange with a hateful glare. "How?"

Strange tapped the side of his head. "I let you see what you wanted to see."

The alien growled and raised his hand only to get a spear through his head a second later. The Dora Milaje who had thrown it simply walked over and plucked it from the dead alien.

"I think I might throw up." Peter commented quietly and Tony was hard pressed not to agree with the sentiment out loud.

"We need to…" Natasha began.

A dark shape had the Wakandans parting hurriedly and Tony froze at the sight of the Black Panther. He could have sworn…

The headpiece retracted and revealed T'Challa's sister. She looked impossibly young.

"Your Majesty." Tony said formally.

Shuri nodded. "Wakanda was chosen by your Captain America as we had never had a successful invasion. My brother agreed to this and in his name we will not allow this to be the invasion which defeats us. We retreat and we regroup. We will win."

Her speech had the result of rallying the Wakandans and they shouted their defiance, raising their weapons high and…

Tony nodded. "At your service, Your Pantherness."

Shuri turned and…

Darkness began to form in the middle of the clearing…

"MOVE!" Shuri ordered.

"Strange," Tony said, "get the hell out of here!"

Strange shook his head. "He won't get the time stone."

Thanos appeared and immediately the gauntlet activated a wave of purple rushing out to destroy anything in its path.

Tony willed the suit to work and managed to fly up, grabbing Peter on his way while the power stone took out anything below them. He was barely aware of Strange levitating everyone else into the air.

Thanos bellowed with rage at being denied. He sent out a wild pulse of red energy and reality warped around them…

Tony held onto Peter and could feel Peter clutching onto him as they rocked against the waves of energy and power…

Strange fought back; orange magic catching the red, slamming into the purple, and pushing it back…

Portals began opening around them…the sorcerors of Kamar-Taj, guardians of the Eye of Agamotto for centuries, responding to the call of the Sorcerer Supreme…

 _Plan Z_

"Let's do this!" Steve shouts…

And it's chaos.

Vision and Stephen focus on Thanos; their two infinity stones pitched against his three. But Thanos' stones don't work on them – they're protected with their suits hooked up to a mini-arc reactor – they all are.

Tony doesn't get to watch because the rest of them begin to tackle the alien creatures.

It's carnage.

Tony weaves in and out of the fights – he knocks off a set trying to overwhelm Hulk;

he pivots and dive bombs into Steve's position, they fight back to back before they use Tony's repulsors against the shield to knock out the aliens;

he rescues Clint fighting off two with only his bow and perches him up high where he can make better shots;

he drops in to help Natasha and she uses Tony to launch herself into a group of aliens taking them down and out…

There's too many of them.

They're getting overwhelmed by sheer numbers and then…

Starlord appears shooting laser blasts left and right, rushing through the aliens on his hover boots and sending them flying…

Rocket is firing guns from atop a set of crates, lobbing bombs into the midst of the creatures – explosions fill the air…

Drax gives a war cry and barrels in with swords…

Mantis sets her hand on the ground and a wave of aliens fall to her sleep command…

Gamora is there with her sister, fighting back to back, taking no prisoners…

Groot uses his vines to strangle and hold…and…is he on his phone?!

The tide turns…

"NOW, THOR!" Steve yells.

And Thor shifts – the lightning which he'd aimed at the alien creatures, snapping back to Thanos…

Thanos is engulfed and he's taken down to his knees…

Stephen changes the surface under Thanos to concrete keeping him locked in place…

Hulk is on him in a second, beating Thanos' face with his fists, keeping his attention as Vision aims his stone's beam at Thanos' head, freezing his mind and…

Thor whirls around and brings his axe down on Thanos' arm…

The infinity gauntlet drops to the ground and bounces free of Thanos' hand, coming to rest by Tony.

Thanos gives an almighty cry and breaks free – his body lurching upwards, his intact arm knocking Vision away and into Stephen…tumbling them towards Tony…

He plucks Hulk from the ground and throws him…

Steve begins his run towards the Titan…Natasha and Clint beside him…the Guardians just behind them, racing towards them to help, to fight…

And Tony slams down onto the planet and snatches up the gauntlet…

Vision grabs one of Tony's shoulders…Stephen grabs the other…

And Time stands still.


	25. A beginning and end

_The End of Plan A_

Tony was frankly amazed that his suit was still operational. He flew Peter away from the epicentre with Thanos and the battling mages. He dropped him down to join Shuri who was clearly commanding her warriors into a retreat towards a set of waterfalls a mile ahead. It made sense she'd choose ground she knew; which had meaning for the Wakandans.

"Stay with Black Panther!" Tony ordered Peter briskly.

"Mister Stark!" protested Peter even as he landed gracefully below him.

"Stay safe." Tony said gruffly and turned back.

He dived for Natasha next. She accepted the lift with her usual stoicism. She rolled as she dropped.

"Tony…" she called out but she seemed unable to say anything further, her eyes bright with pain. She took a deep breath as he hovered impatiently. "Don't do anything stupid."

Tony gave a mock salute and went back.

Barnes was next and Tony grabbed him out from under the claws of another alien creature. He didn't protest as Tony picked him up, but he held on when Tony would have let go. "Steve?"

"Gone." Tony answered.

Barnes' face crumpled for a moment before it smoothed into hard determination. "Take me back to the fight."

"No," Tony said firmly, "they need you. Natasha, Peter, Shuri…they need someone with them."

"You."

"Steve trusted you." Tony said without a hint of the bitterness he had once felt. "Do it for him."

Barnes looked at him searchingly before he gave a nod and let go.

Tony didn't wait to see him land he went back to the fight. He knew his suit was on its last flight; the nanobots could only do so much to repair it when it was down and he'd probably used up the last of the nanobots energy flying the others out.

It had been the right thing to do.

Too many of them had died already that day.

There were less sorcerers fighting Thanos than when he'd picked up Barnes. Tony dipped and dived and tried to keep the alien creatures from converging and overwhelming the sorcerers while they focused on Thanos…

But it was futile.

Thanos was too strong with the gauntlet and he countered everything the sorcerers threw at him…

A wave of red swarmed out, distorting reality again and took with it a dozen sorcerers…

Thanos turned towards Strange and sent a blast of purple towards him…

"STARK!" Strange yelled and thrust his hand out…

The Eye of Agamotto spun through the air towards Tony.

He reached out…

Fingertips reaching…

…and snagged it from mid-air before Thanos could grasp it.

Thanos roared his anger, his hands turning into fists and he drew one back with the clear intent to hit Tony…

He couldn't take another hit.

His suit was already compromised.

There was no more time.

 _Use me_ , the time stone whispered. _Use me to go back._

Could he? Could Tony go back…

 _Strange grinned but there was a serious glint in his eyes. "How about we make it plan Z?"_

" _Last resort, huh?" Tony shrugged. "Yeah, why not? Let's go with that."_

Thanos was close…too close…his fist almost…

"Take me back to the beginning." Tony said desperately.

Pain suffused him and stole his breath.

Tony's hand clasped tightly around the time stone and he felt it burning again. A green glow surrounded him.

And there was so much pain.

Too much pain.

He closed his eyes and screamed…

 _The End of Plan Z_

The world around them is frozen…

Thanos' face is contorted with rage, his body in mid-attack, his aim to take out Tony clear…

Steve has his arm back, the shield ready to throw…

Clint has his arrows in flight, protecting Steve's six; Natasha has arms outstretched and firing both amped up handguns beside him…

Tony's barely holding onto the gauntlet as the stones rise from it…

Power

Reality

Space

He's not sure when he took the stone out of the armour compartment but it's there…Soul

And Stephen relinquishes Time.

Tony looks at Vision and shakes his head in denial but Vision simply smiles softly and lifts a hand to his forehead…the stone comes free spinning towards Tony as Vision falls away…

Mind

Something is burning.

Whispers across his mind and Tony agrees…

He closes his eyes…

Thanos is swept away into his own reality; locked away forever in a hell dimension where he can do no harm.

Something is burning. _Steve's hand slides into his._

The alien creatures are destroyed in a wave of purple…

Something is burning. _Clint's hand is on Tony's shoulder. Natasha is holding onto Steve's other arm._

And he can see across space, across time to Wakanda…to the battle that is raging there because Thanos had sent his Black Order to destroy the Earth anyway…to kill humanity…

Bucky and the Black Panther are battling the Black Order's general…

Antman and the Wasp are taking down the goliath…

Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Falcon are dealing with the alien who'd once tortured Stephen…

And War Machine and Spiderman are fighting the female warrior…

Something is burning. _The Hulk braces Tony's back and Thor is at his front._

His Iron Legion are there…helping to fight the alien creatures with the Wakandans...the helicarriers circle in the sky providing air support...

He grasps the souls of the four children Thanos had raised for war and sent to Earth; he releases them…he sends their souls to Thanos, forever trapped…but returns another soul to the world, replacing an infinity stone with a sun stone to give life again…

Tony smiles to see it.

Something is burning. _The Guardians encircle them, reaching out to join their strength to the Avengers…_

A nudge of Power and Space and the aliens are gone from the Earth…gone into the void beyond the universe…

Something is burning… _no mortal man was meant to hold the stones._

Tony frees the stones…sends them into the corners of the universe to hide and be hidden…all except the time stone which he returns to Kamar-Taj, to the guardianship of the Sorcerer Supreme.

Tony is burning because no mortal man was meant to hold the infinity stones even one protected by the countering energy of an arc reactor.

Pain engulfs him.

The arc reactor flickers and dies.

Tony falls to the ground, welcoming the darkness.

Iron Man is down.

 _Beyond Plan Z_

Tony is in Wakanda. _He's standing on Titan._

He's faking sleep in a cave in Afghanistan. _He's watching Yinsen die a second time._

He's dying watching black lines across his heart. _He's creating vibranium._

He's falling away from space as the portal beneath him closes. _He's safe on Earth with the sky above him._

He's watching Pepper fall. _He's watching Pepper sleep while Rhodey saves the world from Killian._

He's sacrificing JARVIS. _He's watching JARVIS sacrifice himself._

He's watching a video in a bunker in Siberia. _He's forgiving Bucky in a French market._

He's testifying against Ross and talking with Fury on a roof. _He's seeing the SHRA defeated._

He's telling Peter he wants him to be better. _He's holding Peter as he cries._

He's calling Steve with Thor at his back. _He's grieving with Thor on the tower roof._

He's preparing for war, going to war. _He's facing war again._

He's going back to the beginning. _He's finally at the end…_

 _Not your end, the stones all whisper._

 _Your duty to us is done, Soul whispers softly, the time of your sacrifice over._

 _Time brushes past him; the course has been corrected to the right path._

 _All is as it should be, they whisper._

 _And then there is silence and peace._

 _Silence._

 _Silence._

 _Silence._

Something is beeping.

Annoying beeps.

Tony's eyes flicker and finally open slowly.

He's in a room. Tiles above him. He carefully turns his head to find the noise which woke him. There is a machine beeping. It takes him a moment to gather his thoughts and put them in order.

He's in a hospital.

"Tony."

A hand squeezes his.

Pepper.

He turns his head again. She's sat beside the bed, her hand clutching his. Her eyes are bright with tears.

Pepper presses a buzzer; she stands and cups his face, kisses his lips as her tears fall.

"Pep." He croaks. His mouth is dry and tastes foul. He needs water.

She lets go but is back an instant later, spooning welcome ice chips into his mouth.

"Pep, which time, which timeline am I in?" asks Tony anxiously. But even as he says it he can feel the arc reactor in his chest, the never silent hum of its energy. "Pep."

Pepper looks at him worriedly but they don't get a moment to speak before they're overrun with doctors and nurses, and Tony realises he's in Wakanda. There's a battery of tests and evaluations and Tony falls asleep again.

It's another day before he learns that the others who'd gone to Titan, with the exception of Vision, had rooms of their own in the hospital although both Bruce and Steve had recovered within a day; Stephen within two. Natasha and Clint the next. The Guardians had woken within moments of each other and taken off the same day to Titan to see about their ship courtesy of a portal created by Stephen.

Psionic comas had been the diagnosis. There was general confusion about how they'd all ended up in Wakanda.

Tony's the latecomer to the land of the living.

He's as weak as a kitten.

His right hand is badly burned as though the injuries of a previous timeline have followed him home. It's touch and go but they decide not to amputate; there's the Cradle and pain.

It's a week before he leaves the ICU, another month before he's allowed home; back to New York, back to the tower.

"There's some people here to see you." Pepper says as she helps him into the elevator.

"Yeah," Tony says, "let's not do that." He nuzzles into her neck and drops a kiss there.

She rolls her eyes at him. "Workshop, but stop on the communal floor to let me out FRIDAY."

"Yes, Boss."

"Boss, huh?" asks Tony teasingly.

Pepper smiles and kisses him before she gets out and sends him on his way.

DUM-E greets him happily and Tony shrugs off his hoodie and settles into the sofa in the corner with a sigh. His fingers tap against the arc reactor. DUM-E brings him a letter and Tony opens it. It's a get well card from the kids at Xavier's.

"I'd thought you'd come down here." Fury says, stepping out of the shadows.

"Really?" asks Tony, propping his card up on a side table.

Fury smiles at him. "You did good, Stark."

Tony ignores the praise.

"Going to disappear again?" asks Tony, absently petting DUM-E.

"I'll be around." Fury says.

Clint knocks softly on the workshop door. Tony waves him in and isn't too surprised when the rest of the Avengers tumble in after him.

There's cake and some fizzy apple juice which they pop like champagne. Pepper slides a hand into his as they settle back on the sofa.

Not everyone is present; T'Challa had remained in Wakanda overseeing the recovery efforts in his country; Charles has apparently along with the card sent apologies; the X-Men are back at the school, recovering from their own injuries. Tony wonders if that's where Vision is. Stephen isn't there either which is a pity because Tony was hoping to speak with him because Tony has questions.

Fury raises his glass for a toast.

"There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people; to see if they could become something more. So, when the world needed them, they could fight the battles that the rest of the world never could." He tipped his head towards each of them. "This last battle…the world has never needed you more and you rose to the challenge." He lifts his glass a touch. "To the Avengers."

They all join the toast but Tony isn't surprised when Fury slides out in the cheerful chaos which follows.

Thor appears beside him and rests a hand on Tony's shoulder. "I must take my leave. I have received word from the Valkyrie. I go to join my people."

Tony gets up and they hug goodbye.

"Take care, Thor."

Tony watches fondly as the God of Thunder is besieged on his way to the door with hugs of goodbye.

Bruce approaches next while the attention is on Thor.

"You leaving again?" asks Tony lightly.

Bruce shakes his head. "I hear there's a lab with my name on it."

"All yours, Big Guy."

Bruce smiles crookedly and slips out of the room.

"I'm going to have to go." Peter says, approaching awkwardly.

Tony nods; it's a school night.

"It's good to see you home, Mister Stark." Peter says.

"We'll work on your suit at the weekend." Tony promises.

Peter brightens and scampers out.

Steve and Bucky are next.

"Thanks for looking after this punk." Bucky ruffles Steve's hair and Steve squirms away a bright smile on his face.

Steve pushes Bucky off, straightens and sobers enough so Tony knows his words are serious. "Good to have you home, Tony."

"Good to be back." Tony murmurs.

Sam falls in with the super soldiers as they get to the doorway, and he sketches a salute back to Tony who nods an acknowledgement.

Natasha and Clint appear beside him quietly as he refocuses and he smiles at them both. "You heading up to put the kids to bed?"

"Yeah," Clint says, "Laura only gave me a pass for like an hour." He clasps Tony's shoulder and squeezes. "I'll see you tomorrow – Pepper's put me in charge of your physio."

Tony shoots her a look but Pepper simply gazes back impassively.

It's a good choice. Clint's not a pushover but he's supportive and importantly, a friend.

Natasha stoops to kiss his cheek. "Get yourself fit. We need Tony Stark out there."

Tony smiles, remembering another assessment made a timeline ago. He watches the two former spies walk away talking about Nate's latest toddler drama.

It leaves him alone with his small family; with Pepper, Rhodey, Happy and the bots. His heart aches again for JARVIS but he has FRIDAY, and she has a special place of her own.

"Well, I have to get going too." Rhodey says brightly. "I have a date."

"Anyone we know?" asks Tony, pleased for Rhodey.

"None of your business." Rhodey retorts lightly.

"But how will I know she's good enough for you if you won't tell me who she is and…"

Rhodey kisses the top of his head. "'Night, Tony!"

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Tony calls after him.

Happy gets to his feet. "Well, I have a date too so…I'll see you tomorrow, Boss."

Pepper and Tony watch him leave.

"Is this date called Happy's TIVO?" asks Tony dryly.

Pepper chuckles and presses her face into his shoulder. They sit for a long moment just the two of them.

"You going to stay down here a while?" Pepper asks.

Tony nods.

Pepper kisses him softly. "Don't let DUM-E put the cake in a smoothie." She kisses him again and heads out.

She's barely gone when Vision phases through the ceiling and almost gives Tony a heart attack, the bracelet gauntlet activating automatically.

Vision lands, his expression sheepish as Tony deactivates the gauntlet and orders DUM-E to relinquish the fire extinguisher. "Perhaps I should have used the door."

Tony shrugs, ignoring his pounding heart. "It's good to see you, Vision."

"It is good to be seen." Vision says. "I, uh, I wanted to talk with you but now that I'm here I don't know what to say."

"No need to thank me," Tony offers brightly, "I'm just glad it worked."

"No, that's not…I mean, I am thankful but that's not what I wanted to talk with you about." Vision stumbles over his words and Tony flashes back to another timeline again and starts to laugh.

Vision stares back at him in consternation.

Tony gets himself together, reaches out and pats Vision on the arm. "Sorry, Vis. You were saying?"

"JARVIS left a message for you with me." Vision says. "I believe now is the time to give it you." He hands a slip of paper to Tony.

Tony takes it and tries to stop his hand from shaking. "JARVIS?"

"He understood that he had to sacrifice himself to create me and to also ensure events transpired as they should."

Tony stares at him. "You knew?"

Vision inclines his head. "All that JARVIS knew."

"Why didn't you…"

"To maintain the advantage we had gained at his insistence." Vision confirms. "It was…difficult."

Tony nods. Difficult.

"If you'll excuse me, I am expected elsewhere." Vision says.

Tony nods. "Date?"

"Yes." Vision says. "Miss Maximoff and I spent some time in Wakanda together. She has agreed to attend a film with me."

Vision and Wanda. Perhaps they were always destined.

"Good for you, Vis." Tony says.

Vision inclines his head once again and phases through the wall of the workshop.

Tony holds the paper tightly and slowly opens it up to read. It's an IP address; a server. There's a printed message: _If you wish me to return, sir._ And Tony's hand crumples the paper for a moment as he raises it to his head and closes his eyes.

JARVIS.

He hasn't lost him after all.

He blinks back his tears as he hears the sound of a portal forming in the air beside him. Stephen steps out but leaves the portal open.

Tony sets the paper down carefully on the worktable beside him. "Stephen."

"Glad to see you back." Stephen says. "How are you feeling?"

Tony shrugs. "I'm fine."

Stephen's raised eyebrow speaks to his scepticism but he doesn't press Tony on it. "I just wanted to let you know I'll be away for a while. Something's come up with an old teacher of mine…a friend."

Tony blinks but he nods. "Thanks for letting us know." He stops Stephen as he makes to leave. "It was real, wasn't it? The other timeline? It did happen."

"It happened." Stephen says. "But you'll probably find that the memories become more indistinct as this time moves forward now. It's overwritten like an old tape recording. You might hear echoes on the tape but there's something else in its place now and it takes precedence."

Tony sighs. That makes sense.

"What?" asks Stephen.

Tony shrugs awkwardly. "I just…I was confused when I woke up. I didn't know which was real and I said something, in front of Pepper."

"Ah."

"I don't want to lie to her." Tony admits.

"Then don't." Stephen says. He throws something at Tony and Tony catches it awkwardly.

It's a crystal.

"What's this?" asks Tony bemused.

"A one-time use spell. Whatever you talk about when you hold the crystal will be safe from prying telepaths, sorcerers, etcetera." Stephen says briskly.

"Thank you." Tony's gratitude is genuine.

"Do you remember where you sent the stones?" asks Stephen, clearly giving into his curiosity.

Tony shakes his head. "I only vaguely remember returning the time stone to Kamar-Taj."

"For which I and my fellow sorcerers are grateful." Stephen turns to head back into the Sanctum. He stops and turns back. "Don't look for them, Tony."

Tony waves off the suggestion, because he's definitely not insane enough to go hunting for the stones. Although…

No.

Not insane enough.

The portal is gone as Tony carries the crystal tightly and makes his way to the elevator.

Pepper's in the bedroom. She's dressed for bed in an old t-shirt but is working on her laptop, open folders around her. She's wearing the glasses she needs to wear but never admits to needing.

She looks beautiful.

She suddenly notices Tony standing in the doorway.

"Hey." Pepper says, shoving the folders and laptop aside as Tony walks over to the bed and slipping her glasses off to place them on the bedside table. "I thought you'd be a while longer."

Tony just shuffles into a position beside her and hugs her to him.

"Are you OK?" Pepper asks, smoothing his hair back as she pulls back from his hug and searches his eyes.

He kisses her lightly and rests his forehead on hers. He loves her so much.

"Tony?"

He hears the love for him in the way she speaks his name.

"I have something to tell you." Tony says. "It's…" he stumbles, unsure of his words, "it's complicated and unbelievable and…"

Pepper inches back and presses a finger against his lips for a second; she holds his gaze until he quiets. She takes hold of his free hand and intertwines their fingers. "It's OK. You know what they say about the best way to start."

Tony wonders what she sees when she looks at him; if she sees the two lifetimes he's led, the memories which haunt him, the love for her and the rest of their family which has sustained him, the hope he has of the future – because they have a future ahead of them now.

Unknown and un-travelled.

But before then…before they can take the first steps in that future, before he can bring JARVIS home, he needs to tell her, needs her to know the truth…

Tony smiles a little crookedly, tightening his hold on the crystal. He takes a deep breath and starts at the beginning.

The End

 _Author's Note: Thank you all for reading. For those interested I included an author's commentary as chapter 26 over at AO3._


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